


A Taste of The Armageddon

by vitaminanime



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Accidental Stimulation, Airplane Crashes, Anesthesia, Arguments, Awkward introductions, Battle, Battle of Endor (Star Wars), Birth Control, Blood and Injury, Brain Damage, Brain Surgery, Broken Bones, Chapter 2 Seemed Like a Good Idea At the Time, Coming In Pants, Coming Untouched, Conversations, Crushed Skulls, Crying, Disasters, Distress Signals, Doctors & Physicians, Eyesight Restoration, F/M, Forehead Kisses, Friendship, Guns, Head Injury, Hugs, I Choose What's Canon, Insubordination, Kissing, Lightsaber Battles, Loss of Virginity, Making Out, Medical Experimentation, Medical Procedures, Nurses, Original Character Death(s), Original Ships, Partial Nudity, Promises, Rescue Missions, Seizures, Serious Injuries, Sparring, Splenectomy, Technobabble, This Entire Fic Seemed Like a Good Idea At The Time, Training, escape pods, executions, lobotomies, medical drama, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:35:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 35,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26703823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vitaminanime/pseuds/vitaminanime
Summary: After a bitter battle against the Empire, Kanan, Rex, and Zeb have been badly wounded and left for dead. When a passing ship, the Armageddon, hears their distress call and goes out of their way to rescue them, it seems to be fortuitous, but when Kanan wakes up and finds himself a test subject for a new invention that restores sight perhaps a little too well, he struggles to not go insane or turn to the Dark Side. Crew members from both ships learn that using dubious medical ethics to save lives is a catch-22, that punishment and discipline are not mutually exclusive. Meanwhile, on the Ghost, Sabine and Ezra are losing their virginity to each other.And that was just the first time the Armageddon came to the aid of the Ghost. Not long thereafter, they came to their aid again, and for better or for worse, nobody was the same thereafter.The third meeting of the Ghost and the Armageddon, however, is one everyone hopes will never happen, but will it?
Relationships: Ezra Bridger/Sabine Wren, Kanan Jarrus/Hera Syndulla, Wedge Antilles/Original Female Character, Wedge Antilles/Sabine Wren
Comments: 21
Kudos: 12





	1. Mutually Exclusive

"You have to pay attention!" Said Kanan.

"I am paying attention!" Said Ezra.

"To what? Sabine's ass?" Ezra and Kanan were sparring on the roof of the Ghost, and Sabine was washing the windows.

"Never mind me!" Called Sabine as she washed the windows with a window cleaning device.

"Gotcha!" Kanan knocked Ezra off his feet.

"You were distracted." Said Kanan. "When you are distracted, you are vulnerable."

"It's not my fault Sabine is cute." Said Ezra.

"You need to let her go." Said Kanan as they continued to spar.

"You're doing better." Said Kanan. "Don't stop now."

"AAAAAAAA!" Sabine slipped and fell off the Ghost.

Ezra concentrated and Force-raised her back onto the Ghost.

"I've got you." Said Ezra as he lowered her down gently.

"Thanks for the lift!" Said Sabine as she continued to wash the windows.

"You can be distracted for hours on end, yet when Sabine slips and falls, THAT you concentrate on." Said Kanan.

"I wasn't going to let Sabine fall five hundred vertical meters." Said Ezra.

"I wasn't either." Said Kanan. He knocked over Ezra again in a moment of distraction.

"What was that all about?" Said Ezra as he got to his feet.

"Same as before. You need to have more discipline." Said Kanan.

Ezra slumped. "I don't like discipline." He said.

"Discipline and punishment are not mutually exclusive." Said Kanan.

Ezra slumped down further.

"Let's call it a day." Said Kanan as they headed back inside the Ghost.

Not that much later, Kanan happened on Sabine and Ezra smooshed up against a bulkhead, kissing passionately.

"I thought I gave you homework." Said Kanan.

Ezra and Sabine pulled apart. "I can meditate later." Said Ezra. They then continued making out.

"I told those lovebirds to get a room." Said Zeb as he passed by.

"What did I tell you about having more discipline?" Said Kanan.

"What are you going to do? Spank me? Take away my eating privileges? Make me combine my sanistream showers with Zeb?" Said Ezra.

"Leave me out of this! It's cruel and unusual punishment for me as well!" Called Zeb.

"That's not what I'm getting at. What I'm getting at is when you have something you need to do, focus on that, and that alone, even if it's difficult to focus. Then, once it's all done, then you can do what you like. Punishment and discipline are not mutually exclusive." Said Kanan.

#########

"Keep on high alert!" Rex issued orders as stormtroopers fired at them.

"We don't have much choice!" Said Kanan as he deflected blaster fire.

"We're outnumbered, we're alone, why do we even bother with this!" Said Zeb as he fired another round. Some stormtroopers were knocked down but they were still outnumbered.

"We're in this for a reason!" Said Rex, right as all hell broke loose.

Explosions went off everywhere and the AT walker had blown a fuse. It was a victory for no one.

The AT came crashing down, flinging the people inside it out the front windshield and killing them instantly. Explosives detonated and metal crashed as surviving stormtroopers retreated.

"Play dead." Rex told Kanan and Zeb.

"Like that's gonna be a lot of work." Said Kanan, right as a limb from the walker fell down, crushing Rex's leg and hitting Kanan in the head and right onto Zeb.

"Ordering all units to fall back." Said an Imperial commander as they did just so, leaving Rex, Kanan, and Zeb for dead.

\----------

"Rex, Kanan, and Zeb are in danger!" Said Ezra to Sabine as they fixed the engines on the Ghost.

"There's nothing we can do about it!" Said Sabine as she grabbed a replicator and some coupling resin and stopped the frequency cylinder breach.

"We have to do something. I saw it in my vision. Rex, Kanan, and Zeb have been outnumbered and are trapped under the fallen beam of a-"

"I don't want to hear about it." Said Sabine.

"How can you not want to hear about it! If someone doesn't come for them soon they'll be goners! How could you not care about them?" Said Ezra.

"It's not that I don't care, it's just that I...I don't know, I realize there's nothing I can do and I've resigned to fate. Why don't you speak with Hera about it?" Said Sabine.

Ezra headed to the bridge to find Hera scowling at the navigation interface while she piloted.

"Hera! Kanan, Rex, and Zeb are in danger." Said Ezra.

Hera turned to Ezra, eyes full of horror, and then continued scowling at the navigation interface. "How would you know?"

"I saw it. I saw it in a vision. They lost a battle and are trapped under the beam of an AT walker and are injured and nobody else is there." Said Ezra.

Hera felt a profound wave of dread in her stomach and then swallowed hard. "Sometimes visions are just that. Visions."

"But I saw them. They're in trouble. We need to help them. I could feel it in the Force." Said Ezra. 

"There's nothing we can do. They're out of our reach and we have to trust that they'll be able to find a way out of it." Said Hera.

"I thought you cared about Kanan." Said Ezra.

"I do, but you need to go back to the engine room and help Sabine fix the high energy propellant manifold. If that thing blows we'll all be toast here and there's no one to save you if you don't save yourself! Snapped Hera.

Ezra returned to the engine room.

Hera gripped the yokes and stared out the front window. She felt guilty about snapping at him but was also worried sick. Was it a vision or a delusion? If something terrible really happened, would she regret it to the end if her days for not doing something? Best to keep him busy and I can worry for myself.

Ezra found Sabine standing on a riser, trying to reach the top of the high energy propellant manifold, with Chopper handing her tools.

"I'm going to need a bigger vacuum coupler." Said Sabine.

Chopper blooped and gurgled. It probably meant "there are no big vacuum couplers or small vacuum couplers, there are only vacuum couplers."

"Did you mix them all together?" Said Sabine.

Chopper blooped.

"You menace!" Said Sabine.

"I'll sort them out. You work on the high energy propellant manifold." Said Ezra as he began to sort the vacuum couplers.

"I'm going to need a bigger vacuum coupler fast! The high energy propellant manifold is going to blow and the main combustion chamber will explode!" Said Sabine.

"Hold on. Here you go!" Ezra tossed a vacuum coupler and Sabine caught it. She tightened the combustion cycle cylinders sealers.

"It's not working!" She called.

Ezra force-vaulted onto the risers and realigned the high energy propellant manifold without using any tools.

The high energy propellant manifold slid back into space and the combustion cycle cylinders resumed their normal sound.

"We did it." Said Sabine.

"No, I did it." Said Ezra.

"When you say 'I did it' you mean you never sorted out the vacuum couplers." Said Sabine.

"We both did it." Said Ezra.

"You are so obnoxious I could kiss you." Said Sabine.

"Nobody's stopping you." Said Ezra.

Sabine leaned in and gave Ezra and open-mouthed tongue kiss. His heart fluttered and he kissed her back.

"We haven't done that in years." Said Sabine. She continued kissing him.

"Do you remember the time Kanan lectured us about discipline after he caught us?" Said Ezra, immediately feeling guilty about mentioning Kanan.

"How could I forget?" Said Sabine. "Ezra, is everything ok?"

"We shouldn't be doing this while they're in danger." Said Ezra.

"Chances are, it's just a vision, and while there's nothing you can do about them, you did a lot just now. You helped us fix the high energy propellant manifold, and if you hadn't the engines would have breached and we all would have been done for. We all admire your selflessness, but there are times when your immediate needs come first." Said Sabine.

"But I would never ignore anyone in need." Said Ezra.

"Careful now, If not for you, who else would you save?" Sabine kissed Ezra passionately and he kissed her back, as they made their way towards her room.

\--------------------

"I guess that means we die here." Said Kanan. They were still trapped under the beam with no way out.

"Not if I have a say in it." Said Rex.

"You're alive?" Said Kanan, feeling Rex's warm, wet, sticky blood on the soil at his fingertips.

"My leg is pretty badly broken, but I survived. Somehow." Said Rex.

"I'm not so sure about Zeb, though." Said Kanan. He was unconscious, pinned under the beam, and had been blasted with shrapnel.

"How do you suggest we get out of this? Is some miracle going to descend from the sky?" Said Kanan.

In front of them, just out of reach, was a transmitter that had been flung from the AT.

Rex groaned in pain as he reached as far as he could to the transmitter, and pulled it towards him with his fingers.

"I'm going to hack this transmitter to removed the Imperial signature." Said Rex.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Said Kanan.

"I'm going to send out a distress signal." Said Rex.

"On this makerforsaken planet?" Said Kanan, his head pounding from the blow.

Rex sent out a distress signal. They waited. Nobody responded.

"Sounds like our distress signal is falling on deaf ears." Said Kanan.

"Let's have another go at it." Said Rex. He sent out another distress signal. They waited. It was declined.

The transmitter beeped a low battery signal.

"There's only enough battery in that thing for one last call. Who will save us now? Or do we die here?" Said Kanan.

"I'll try changing to a lower frequency. If somebody doesn't hear us, nobody will." Said Rex.

Meanwhile, on the bridge of the rebel battleship the Armageddon:

"Captain Galvez, Mr. Tredd, I'm picking up distress signals." Said Ensign Aguirre.

"Enter the code." Said Galvez.

"Armageddon 29, Ensign Araceli Aguirre speaking. What it the nature of your distress signal?" Said Aguirre.

"We've been left for dead." Said Rex.

"Explain your situation." Said Aguirre.

"We were in a battle that didn't end well and we're trapped under the leg if an AT-walker." Said Rex.

"Can you give me the coordinates? How many of there are you? Are any of you sick or injured?" Said Aguirre, even though she knew it was a rhetorical question.

"There are three of us. All of us are injured." Said Rex.

"What is your name?" Said Aguirre.

"Rex."

"Allow me to talk to my captain, Rex. Standby." Aguirre turned to discuss the matter with the rest of the command crew."

"We've already been delayed." Said Tredd, a humanoid with pale gray skin, frizzy green hair, and neon green eyes with black scleras and spiral pupils. "And considering the high probability of encountering enemy ships as it is, we should keep a low profile until we arrive at the base. Ensign, see if there are any ships in the area you could defer the distress signal."

"I'm going to see if there are any ships nearby I could defer your distress signal to." Aguirre told Rex. Rex's heart sank.

"There are no other ships in this sector we could defer the distress signal to. That means the responsibility rest on us." Aguirre told the rest of the helmsmen.

"These are people we don't know, the only route to their distress site goes straight through heavily guarded Imperial territory, and I see no reason to endanger our entire crew just for three strangers. We have already had two delays and the base is expecting us. It goes against all reasoning constructed or assessed according to strict principals of validity." Said Tredd.

"Responding to the distress signal may not be the logical thing to do, but it's the right thing to do. Bowditch, make the calculations, enter their coordinates, and re-route our destination." Said Galvez.

"Affirmative." Said Bowditch made the calculations and entered the new coordinates into the navigation matrix.

"Aguirre, let the base know there is going to be a delay." Said Galvez.

"Affirmative." Said Aguirre. She changed frequencies and explained their situation to the base.

Galvez opened the frequency of the distress signal to speak to Rex.

"Who's there?" Said Rex.

"You are speaking with Antonio Galvez, captain of the Armageddon. We're redirecting our course in response to your distress signal." He said.

"Thank you." Said Rex. The frequency crackled with static. 

"Attention Armageddon crew members. This is your captain speaking. We are diverting our course to answer a distress signal. Hartsfield, redirect all fuel sources towards main engines and prepare a shuttle and have it cleared for departure. Dr. Ochsner, prepare a landing party of medical personnel and security officers. All hands report to stations. Shields up. We are headed through heavily guarded Imperial territory. Brace yourselves for assault." Announced Galvez over the PA. He then turned to Aguirre. "Tell them to standby and that we're on our way." Said Galvez as he pulled down on the lever and personally made the jump to hyperspace.

Meanwhile, Rex, Kanan, and Zeb's situation showed no sign of improving. The sky was turning gray and the air smelt of petrichor.

"Any word if they'll be here soon?" Said Kanan.

"They said to standby and that they'd be on their way, but they seem to be in no hurry to..." Rex was distracted by the shuttlecraft that had just landed.

"Get here." Said Rex as the Armageddon crew members started coming out and issuing orders to one another.

"Is it really them?" Said Kanan.

Rex turned to Kanan. "It had better be. It says Armageddon 07 right on its side."

"In case you can't remember, I can't see!" Said Kanan.

Rex then turned forward.

The Armageddon's medical personnel were in a triangle formation, flanked by security officers. At the front of the formation was a woman in black, silver, and magenta Mandalorian armor, armed to the teeth, carrying a set of stretcher poles and holding a surgical instrument case embroidered with a Rebel insignia.

"Oh, It's beautiful!" Said Rex.

\--

Kanan was waking up. The world looked wrong. The world looked wrong? THE WORLD LOOKED WRONG!

He could see again, but his eyesight had come back wrong.

He could see light fixtures overhead, yes, they were incandescing light, but it wasn't light of the mere visible spectrum. There was the glow of ultraviolet light and the warmth of infrared rays and the hollow, eerie glow of x-rays and the static sharpness of microwaves and the bombastic, hyperbolic, all-encompassing assault of the radio waves. All rolled into one. That light was coming from the light fixture overhead, refracting through the liquid in the IV bag, inferring he was in a sickbay or medbay. Everything seemed too bright, like staring into a sun and being unable to turn away. There was a weird tingling behind his eyes.

He reached up to touch where his eyes should be. He could see his fingers. HE COULD SEE HIS FINGERS! But they appeared wrong. Where his eyes should be, there was a metal band encircling half his head, one band on the top and one band on the bottom, about an inch in total, top to bottom vertically, connected by slots and tiny poles of varying lengths. 

"I see you're awake and alert now." Said a female voice. He looked to the side. There was a woman with shoulder-length black or was it black? -hair, fair skin-or was she fair skinned? He could see through her temple that she had a metal plate on the side of her skull. She was missing several organs. Her eyes were light blue-or were they blue? She was wearing black, silver, and magenta-or was that red and violet light competing for one another-Mandalorian armor? He saw all of her with icy clarity as she checked his vital signs. Every muscle in her irises. Every eyelash. Every dilated pore on her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. And she was three feet away.

"Who are you?" He said.

"I am Dr. Tuur'ika Ochsner, your chief medical officer." She said as she continued to monitor his vitals.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?" Kanan growled, even though he was weak.

"Giving eyesight to the blind, what did you think?" Said Tuur'ika. "It's my latest invention. That and I just saved your life."

"This isn't eyesight, this is a mess. I don't have the mental faculties to process all the information of the entire electromagnetic spectrum. I'm about ready to lose my mind." Said Kanan.

"You can't lose your mind if you never had one to begin with." Said Tuur'ika.

"I have enough mental facility to tell you that you had no right to do this to me. I was unconscious. I couldn't say no. If I had known that getting fitted for this visor would be even more physically painful and confusing than being blind is...I would have rather you left me blind." Said Kanan.

"I had no choice, it was to save you. When you were in surgery my newest prototype of this visor was all I had left to save you. It might not be perfect yet, but I was not about to let you die from those head injuries. And besides, most people would like to be able to have better-than-perfect eyesight." Said Tuur'ika.

"How dare you say it's better than perfect! I can't process all this input. Did you even look through this thing? How could you wish this on your own patient? Are you intentionally driving me to madness? How can I get it off of me?" Kanan began tugging at the visor but it refused to budge.

"Keep it on for the next two weeks. You'll live longer." Said Tuur'ika.

"You'll live longer if you take if off me now!" Kanan sat up in bed, but Tuur'ika pushed him down.

"Stay in bed. You'll live longer." Said Tuur'ika.

"Why couldn't you make this visor normal?" Said Kanan.

"I would tell you, but your soft and cute and furry friend needs my attention." Said Tuur'ika, indicating to Zeb, who was on the other side of the sickbay, roaring fitfully as medstaff removed shrapnel from him.

"You will tell me." Kanan attempted to mind trick her.

"I appreciate your effort, Jedi, but you're going to have to do better." Said Tuur'ika as she turned and left.

Kanan turned to Rex. His leg was in an external fixation device.

"What is this place? What am I doing here?" Said Kanan.

"We're in the sickbay of the Armageddon." Said Rex.

"I don't like the sound of that." Said Kanan.

"I don't either, but at this point there's no place I would rather be. They're good people here." Said Rex.

"Good? That isn't exactly the word I would use. That Mandalorian who calls herself a doctor has a medical ethic and bedside manner that leave a lot to be desired." Said Kanan.

"I said they were good. I didn't say they were nice." Said Rex.

"Don't take anything Dr. Ochsner says seriously. She's like that with everyone." Said the Armageddon crew member on the bed to Kanan's left whose head was wrapped in blood-soaked bandages. "Unless she tells you 'stay in bed, you'll live longer.' That you'll need to take REALLY seriously. I speak from personal experience."

"What happened to you?" Said Kanan.

"We had a run in with a star destroyer yesterday and I was operating the cannons with the rest of my artillery crew when I got a particle beam through my skull." Said the Armageddon crew member.

"How did you survive that?" Said Kanan.

"Your guess is just as good as mine. When it happened there were chunks of brain and blood and bone and gore EVERYWHERE!" Said the Armageddon crew member.

"Gage! You mind keeping it down? People are trying to sleep!" Called a female Armageddon crew member.

"We liked you a lot better before your accident, Gage!" Called a male Armageddon crew member.

"I was able to walk all the way from the artillery turrets unasissted to the sickbay, where Dr. Ochsner cleaned up the chunks of bone and brain and bandaged me up. It's really not so bad missing my right prefrontal lobe, I haven't lost nearly as much functions as I thought I would have. I even remember how to operate the artillery. When Captain Galvez announced that we would be redirecting our course so as to answer your distress call and ordered all hands to report to stations, I was feeling better and got up to report to the gun turrets. I was scarcely out of the sickbay when I had another seizure and almost fell and had another head injury had not one of the nurses caught me, so that's why I say that if she says 'stay in bed, you'll live longer' you need to take her seriously." Gage paused.

"So yeah, just ignore Dr. Ochsner. She's mean to everyone, but she really does want us to get well, it's just that..." Gage's eyes glazed over mid sentence.

"Gage? Gage, are you all right?" Said Kanan.

Gage was consumed by a seizure, his limbs and head and didgets twitching violently, and he was making a choking noise.

"Barton! Get over here stat! Gage is having another seizure!" Called a nurse who had rushed to Gage's aid.

"I'll be there in a moment!" Called a female voice from over by where Zeb was being tended. "Turn his head to the left so he doesn't aspirate anything!"

Several nurses came over and began to tend to Gage, but his seizure showed no signs of stopping. The electromagnetic activity in his punctured brain was nauseating.

Kanan rolled flat on his back and stared up at the light fixtures.

"WHEN AM I GOING TO WAKE UP FROM THIS NIGHTMARE?" lamented Kanan.

"I was wondering the same thing, but you can always be glad you're not him." Said Rex.

\---------------------

Sabine and Ezra were in Sabine's room. She had just locked the door when they staggered back onto her bed when Ezra pulled back from their marathon makeout session.

"Kanan and Rex and Zeb...they're...they're..."

"They're what?" Said Sabine.

"They're no longer in trouble." Said Ezra. "They aren't comfortable but they're no longer in trouble."

"That's good news." Said Sabine as she pushed him back onto her bed and they continued kissing passionately.

Ezra guided a hand under Sabine's flack vest. She didn't seem to protest, so he undid the fastenings. His fingers shook as he did so, but was keenly aware that if she wanted him to stop, he would stop immediately.

As soon as all the clasps came undone, Sabine tossed her flack vest aside, the beskar plates ringing as they hit the floor.

"Do you mind?" Said Ezra.

"Do you think I would have tossed it aside if I minded?" Said Sabine as Ezra unzipped her flight suit down her back. He peeled it away by the collar and down her front, and gasped as he got a good look at her.

"You run out of fuel?" Said Sabine.

"No, it's just that...I've never seen a topless girl before." Said Ezra.

"Do you like what you see?" Said Sabine.

"You're a work of art." Said Ezra, drooling.

"Do you really mean it?" Squealed Sabine, flattered.

"When I was undercover at the stormtrooper academy, I dreamed about you every night, and...it was always right around now that I would wake up." Said Ezra.

"If you want actual proof you're not dreaming, you're going to have to choose something from inside this box. I've been saving it for the right time." Sabine took out from a secret compartment under her bed a box of paints.

She opened the box. It did not contain paints.

"Contraceptives?" Said Ezra.

"I've been acquiring them in places I can get them. I've been saving them for times like this." Said Sabine as she spilled a portion of its contents onto her bed.

She had acquired all number of contraceptives, from pills to injections to discs and potions and other varieties from all over the galaxy.

"Are you sure you know how some of these work?" Said Ezra.

"We can figure them out." Said Sabine. "But choosing one of them is non-conditional."

Ezra poked around inside the remaining contents of the paint box.

"What's the electric toothbrush for?" He said.

"Don't touch that, you don't know where that's been, it's for if I need to finish the mission on my own." Said Sabine.

"A bantha intestine?" Ezra flipped the package over. "Needs three days if soaking. I think we can skip that." He put it back in the box.

"Did you take this everywhere with you?" Said Ezra as he examined a bottle.

"Well, everywhere, but not 'everywhere.' Said Sabine. "When I was undercover at Skystrike, I met a guy-I won't give any names, but we really liked each other and we had great chemistry together, and we were about to take it to the next level, but I told him the reason was because I didn't have my box of contraceptives with me, which wasn't a lie, but I figured maybe I should wait, that it wasn't the right time. That night I dreamed about you, and now I know I made the right choice." Said Sabine.

Ezra raised a blue shot bottle. "How about this?"

Sabine took it from him and read the label. "If it will work for you it will work for me." Said Sabine. She scooped up the contraceptives and put them back in the paint box and set the paint box aside. She ripped open the seal and unscrewed the lid. She drank half of it and then handed it to Ezra. He drank the remaining half and tossed the bottle aside.

"We made the right choice." Said Ezra as he and Sabine kissed, their mouths tasting of the musty, herbal potion.

"I've been waiting for a long time, and you were worth the wait." Said Sabine. She kissed him again. "I can't wait any longer." She began to remove his his jacket and shirt as he removed her belts and holsters.

He slid her flight suit down past her waist and put his hands on her waist and gazed in her eyes.

"I'll be there." Ezra then pulled her close and they fell back on Sabine's bed.

\--------------

Kanan attempted to clear his mind of all thoughts to no avail.

Closing his eyes offered no relief. He could see right through with the x-rays, making the solid objects and surfaces of the sickbay appear as a dead city. He tried to meditate, but the sensory input bombarding him seemed too much to block out. Every time Dr. Ochsner walked by, he fought the profound desire to force choke her.

 _Don't let it get to you. Don't let every light in the spectrum lead you into the darkness._ Thought Kanan as he attempted to block out all sensory output. Two weeks? She had said. Two weeks? It would seem like two billion years.

His attempts at blocking out all sensory input were failing. He heard Tuur'ika as she went about her work, being snarky and condescending to patients and staff alike. He concentrated harder.

 _I must have more discipline._ He thought as he concentrated on his thoughts, blocking out the lights and noises of the sickbay, and letting the Force enter his mind.

"You're suffering. I know you are." Said Barton as she checked his vitals. 

"You're the one telling me?" Said Kanan, snapping out of his trance. "Have you tried this visor on? Have you had your mind ripped open by the entire spectrum? Are you the one struggling to not go insane?" 

  


"No, but I tried to tell Dr. Ochsner that her prototype was not ready for use. That it is missing some secret ingredient. That it would be better off to tailor it to the visual capabilities of the species of its intended wearer. That there were other ways to stop the bleeding. But no. She insisted. When you were in surgery, she needed to fit you for it in order to stop the bleeding behind what's left of your eyes. It was either that or let you die. I told her she had not exhausted her options, but insisted on this one because it would be most effective, and she could find out how its visual acuity would play out on a live subject ." Said Barton.

"How would she like having the entire electromagnetic spectrum assaulting her cold and tearless retinas?" Said Kanan. 

"Sometimes I think Dr. Ochsner needs a taste of her own medicine, but that will do us no good. Have you tried closing your eyes?" Said Barton. 

Kanan was about to lash out at her, but he remembered to have the discipline not to and tempered himself. "Closing my eyes provides no relief."

Barton's eyes lit up. "Ohh! That's because it enables you to see x-rays. I'll get you a lead protective sheet." Barton left and then returned momentarily.

She draped the sheet over Kanan's visor, its weight melting away the harsh outlines of the sickbay, returning to his meditation.

"Let me know if you need anything." Barton then turned to Rex.

She tucked a loose tendril of dishwater blonde hair behind her ear and adjusted the pins on the external fixation device. She took an additional bolt out of one of the pockets on her blue utility dress and began to screw it in place on one of the pins.

"Is there anything I can get you?" Said Barton.

"No. I don't need anything." Said Rex.

"Are you sure?" Barton took a holotablet out of one of the pockets on her leggings and entered some data.

"Yes." Said Rex.

"Not even some painkillers?" Said Barton.

"Dr. Ochsner said you were out of painkillers." Said Rex.

"That's what she always says when we're below capacity. We have painkillers if you want." Said Barton.

"You've talked me into it." Said Rex. He surveyed the sickbay for any signs of Tuur'ika. "Is there a reason Dr. Ochsner is chief medical officer and not you?" Said Rex in a hushed voice.

"She's the brain surgeon from a long line of Mandalorian court physicians, I'm just a regular nurse." Said Barton.

"You're surgeon's mate. That's nothing to sneeze at." Said Rex.

"I was going to become a surgeon but because of the war I had to quit while I was ahead and ended up becoming a nurse." Said Barton. "Besides, she has far more specialties than I do."

"I've been observing you two to keep my mind off the pain. You delegate tasks and see them carried out while still being supportive and understanding. Dr. Ochsner, not so much." Said Rex.

"We put up with her best we can because she's good at saving lives, even if she has a sharp tongue and a hard, unfeeling heart." Said Barton.

"I see she rules the sickbay with an iron fist." Said Rex.

"You're right about that." Said Barton.

"Not that I'm complaining, she put my leg back together and saved our lives, but she enjoys watching others in pain." Said Rex.

"I hate to admit it but you're right about that too." Barton paused.

"I fought in the Clone Wars. If I had to, I would do it all over again. If I had to have her reconstruct my leg and put it in the fixation device all over again, I wouldn't." Said Rex.

"I remember you pleading her to just amputate your leg when she was reconstructing it and she just hissed at you that you'd thank her later and just aggressively kept going." Said Barton.

"The pain was so bad it was was like losing all my brothers all at once, but I held it all in and didn't react because I knew I was not going to give her that satisfaction." Said Rex.

"Your threshold of pain is heroic. I'm amazed you didn't pass out from the pain while we were working on you. You wouldn't have been the first." Said Barton.

"I'm amazed at my tolerance to pain. Just don't think I'm complaining. I am appreciative of what she's done for me. For us. She might be horrible but she's good at what she does. Still doesn't give her an excuse to treat her patients so badly." Said Rex.

"It's no excuse. I'm just glad she's on our side. If she had chosen to stay with the Empire, her cold, diabolical brain would have been used to the fullest extent of its abilities to orchestrate Maker-knows-what horrors." Said Barton.

"I'm glad she's on our side too, even if she's a real battle-axe." Said Rex.

"I may not be as strong as a tough old clone trooper like you, but if you agree that Dr. Ochsner is a battle-axe, that makes me feel better about myself." Said Barton.

"If you answer to her every day and haven't killed yourself or wound up in a padded cell, then you're stronger than me." Said Rex.

"Do you mean it?" Said Barton.

"Why would I not?" Said Rex.

"That really means a lot to me. You develop a thick skin working around her but you never get used to her cruelty." Said Barton.

"You're the only one here who asks us if we're comfortable and genuinely cares about us. You're the only one here whose spirit hasn't been completely broken by her. You have to stand up to her." Said Rex.

"Are you saying I should engage in insubordination?" Said Barton.

"Don't be a jerk about it, but she needs to be put in her place. If you don't, nobody will. Stand up to her and earn her respect, stand down and continue to be her doormat. Don't let her mistake your kindness for weakness, they're not mutually exclusive." Said Rex.

"Now what about those painkillers?" Said Barton.

"The painkillers. I almost forgot." Said Rex.

"I'll get them to you stat." Said Barton.

"What is your name?" Said Rex.

"Barton." She said.

"I meant your first name." Said Rex.

"I don't tell anyone my first name. It's too embarrassing." Said Barton.

"It can't be worse than Tuur'ika. I promise I won't laugh." Said Rex.

"If you really want to know, my first name is Hephzibah, but I go by Barty for short." She turned to retrieve the painkillers. 

_Barty._ Thought Rex. _I think I once knew a clone trooper named Barty._

Barton returned momentarily with painkillers, one on a small plate and the rest in an unmarked bottle, along with a small glass of water.

"This may cause drowsiness, so you should not pilot anything or operate any machinery while you are under its influence." Said Barton.

Rex took the pill and raised the small glass of water.

"To survival." Said Rex.

Barton raised an invisible glass. "To survival of today and many days to come."

"Well spoken, brother-I mean sister." Said Rex as he took some water and swallowed the pill.

\--  


Meanwhile, Hera was piloting the Ghost by herself. "I wonder where they are. I hope they're all right." She muttered to herself.

Just then, a frequency came in.

"Who could possibly be hailing me at this hour?" She said as she answered.

"Specter-."

"Armageddon 29, you are speaking with Ensign Aguirre, communications officer of the Armageddon. We have three of your crew members"

Hera's heart skipped a beat. _Ezra's vision was true._

"We received a distress signal from Rex, Kanan, and Zeb. We diverted our course and snuck our way through Imperial-infested space to rescue them. They are currently in our sickbay, recovering from their injuries." Said Aguirre.

Hera gasped. "I was wondering where they were. I hadn't heard from them in too long. I knew it may have been bad but I didn't know it would have been THAT bad." Said Hera.

"They were in a pretty grave situation. They had gotten trapped under the leg of a fallen AT- walker. Their injuries were severe, but they survived. Our chief medical officer says they're something the worse for wear, but will make a complete recovery." Said Aguirre.

"When do you think you might be able to return them to us, or should they stay in your sickbay?" Said Hera.

"We can return them to you now." Said Aguirre. "What are your coordinates?"

Hera gave Aguirre their coordinates. "Also, if it isn't too much trouble, could I offer my personal thanks to your captain?"

"Standby." Said Aguirre. There was momentary silence. "We're arranging a boarding party and our chief engineer is getting the docking bay ready." Said Aguirre.

The Armageddon arrived and airlocked with the Ghost not long thereafter. First Rex came on board, on crutches, but in good spirits, followed by Zeb, wrapped up in bandages, but mostly in good spirits, followed by Kanan, in bad spirits.

He went to Sabine's room, sensing two presences inside. He saw inside the lock, Force-picked the lock, and opened the door to Sabine's room.

Inside he found Ezra and Sabine on the bed, under the covers, with their clothes on the floor, hot, sweaty, and whispering sweet nothings to each other.

"This is what you've been up to the whole time?" Snapped Kanan.

"The only thing we've been up to is the ceiling." Said Sabine.

"You can see again?" Said Ezra, indicating to the visor.

"There's no hiding anything from me anymore. We are about to be receiving officers from a ship that went through fire and water to rescue us. Both of you! Put some clothes on!" Said Kanan.

Galvez, Tredd, Hartsfield, Aguirre, and Tuur'ika boarded the Ghost in descending order by rank and height.

Rex and Zeb came out and saluted the Armageddon crew members as they went by. Kanan saluted them even though he was still full of ill-will towards Tuur'ika and was about ready to die of embarrassment.

Ezra and Sabine had come out of their room, still sweaty, with their hair a mess, Ezra wrapped in a plain white sheet and Sabine wrapped in a white sheet that was splattered with green and orange mythosaurs.

Galvez was stone faced, Tredd had no facial expression whatsoever, Hartsfield was stone faced, Aguirre was trying valiantly not to laugh, and Tuur'ika was at once stone faced and disapproving but also mildly amused.

"I like your color scheme, Dr. Ochsner." Said Sabine, recognizing Tuur'ika's leech bite crest embossed on her left pauldron.

"Thanks." Said Tuur'ika. "I like yours." She fingered Sabine's sheet as if it were a fine fabric.

"Did you embroider the mythosaurs on your kama?" Sabine followed her and knelt down and tugged on Tuur'ika's kama, black on the outside with silver and magenta trim that was embroidered with black mythosaurs.

"As a matter of fact I did." Said Tuur'ika as Sabine shuffled after her.

Sabine flipped the trim of Tuur'ika's kama over to reveal the underside was magenta and the trim was black and silver and embroidered with silver mythosaurs. "Every stitch is perfect. These are works of art. You're an artist too!" Squealed Sabine.

"Takes one to know one. Now would you kindly let go of my kama." Said Tuur'ika tartly as she continued to the bridge of the Ghost with the rest of the Armageddon boarding party.

Kanan could see that the Armageddon officers were externally feigning decorum well, but through infrared and x-ray vision, that they all knew that though that the situation was hilarious, they also were thinking they were making a bad impression. It took discipline to not discipline Sabine and Ezra right then and there.

The Armageddon officers stood on the bridge, where Hera was waiting to receive them. Galvez saluted Hera.

"Captain Galvez." Said Hera. "Thank you so much for coming to our aid."

"Captain Syndulla, I would like to introduce you to Tredd, my first officer, Absalom Hartsfield, my chief engineer, Araceli Aguirre, my communications officer, and Dr. Tuur'ika Ochsner, my chief medical officer. We all are pleased to be of service." Said Galvez.

Tredd, Hartsfield, Aguirre, and Ochsner saluted and then stood at ease.

"When you told me what happened and how badly they were injured, I was horrified and feared the worst, but the fact that you answered the distress signal and went out of your way and risked everything to save Rex and Kanan and Zeb speaks so much about how selfless you are." Said Hera.

"I couldn't simply forsake a distress signal with nobody else to answer it. It may have been met with initial opposition, but I had no choice but to forget logic and do what's right." Said Galvez.

"You are a good person, Galvez. You all are good people. I would have done the same for you." Said Hera.

"I trust you would do the same for me." Said Galvez.

Hera's eyes were full of tears. "Spoken from one captain to another."

"Is there anything we can share with you? Fuel?Drinkable water? Rations?" Said Galvez.

"No, we're good on all if that, but it is kind of you to offer to share yours with us." Said Hera.

"We must be departing. We have already been delayed twice, and hopefully we will not receive any distress signals on the way back to the base, for the benefit of us all." Said Galvez as he left the bridge.

"I'll prepare the airlocks." Said Hartsfield as he ran up ahead.

The incriminating blue birth control shot bottle had rolled out of Sabine's room. Tuur'ika knelt down and picked it up and examined the bottle.

"Not bad for a couple of dumb virgins." Announced Tuur'ika as she tossed the bottle away. The bottle bounced right off Chopper's head.

Chopper blooped and gurgled and squeaked. It probably meant "Now Doctor, where are your manners?"

Kanan was about ready to die of embarrassment for real this time. He turned to Galvez.

"Captain, May I have a word with you?" Said Kanan.

"My time here grows short but I suppose I have a moment." Said Galvez as he went past Tredd, Aguirre, and Tuur'ika. They went into a separate room.

Even with the world in a blur of icy clarity, Captain Galvez had a stately, comforting bearing. Kanan was going to speak, when he noticed the pendant that Galvez had hanging around his neck from a golden chain. It was black in color, scarcely larger than a garbanzo bean, and simultaneously round but also pointed all over.

"What's this?" Kanan said as he picked it up. Suddenly, the entire world came into focus. Every light in the spectrum aligned, to an icy, colorful, all-knowing clarity beyond anything any mortal could see. He could see the world through the lens where the physical world as well as non-visible world was complete and not go insane from it. He let it rest on the palm of his hand

"That is a nonconvex rhombicosidodechahedron carved of obsidian from the planet Ratljóst." Said Galvez.

"Ratl-yuhhst? Where's that?." Said Kanan.

"It's an obscure, dark planet on the very edge of the Outer Rim. I was stranded there. Just me and Tredd. They locked us up and put us through all manner of trials. When we survived the trials, the steward of Ratljòst, a strange, smarmy fellow who seemed to be made of stone, praised us for our perseverance and quickwittedness. During our trials we had acquired a nugget of obsidian which we ourselves had seen erupt forth from Ratljóst's core and cool upon contact. The steward carved the obsidian into this nonconvex rhombicosidodechahedron, and gifted it to me, saying that it would grant the wearer the ability to understand truths mortals weren't meant to know. I'm not so sure if it is effective, but I like to keep an open mind." Said Galvez.

"It's beautiful." Said Kanan. Wait. Had he just called something he could physically see beautiful?

"It's just a bit of black glass." Said Galvez.

But Kanan didn't see it as such. Yes, it was black glass, but within the rhomicosidodechahedron, he saw smoky, swirling tendrils of a color blacker than black that danced within the volcanic glass. 

He suddenly wanted to thank Dr. Ochsner profusely for restoring his eyesight to be even better than it was before he was blinded by Maul. Then he knew it wouldn't last. Captain Galvez's volcanic glass from deep inside a dark planet WAS granting him the ability to understand this particular truth mankind wasn't meant to know, even though he wasn't even the one wearing it. He longed to stay there forever with Galvez, but knew it wouldn't last.

"I deeply apologize for Ezra and Sabine's behavior. I am...not angry, but disappointed in them. I'm deeply ashamed that they were in no composure to receive the crew of another ship." Said Kanan.

"Pay it no mind." Said Galvez.

"But I saw how mortified your first officer, chief engineer, ensign, and chief medical officer were. I saw how mortified you were." Said Kanan.

"Once again, pay it no mind. Tredd always appears mortified, it's a characteristic of his species, Aguirre is a gigglepuss, Hartsfield puts up a good show, Tuur'ika found the whole thing amusing." Said Galvez.

"Amusing? She was not amused." Said Kanan.

"I know her body language well." Said Galvez.

"But that incriminating bottle...?" Kanan sputtered. He knew Galvez was ashamed of her decorum. He had seen it. Galvez was just being unflappable.

"She approved of their caution and she never approves of anything." Said Galvez.

"I also need to talk with you about your chief medical officer." Said Kanan.

"What of her now?" Said Galvez.

"I never asked for this visor. I never consented to it. It...it makes me see the world in a way no human was meant to see. I now can't take it off. It's driving me to the brink of insanity, and then when I was waking up she was downright hostile, not just to me, but to everyone in the sickbay. I don't mind telling you that her ethics are dubious and her character is unsuited to tend to the wounded." Said Kanan.

"I like Tuur'ika. I like her a lot. She even saved my life when removed a brain tumor from me while I was giving command on the bridge. She is excellent at thinking critically, she takes her work seriously. I trust her judgement and opinions. However she is a stubborn as an ox. She is fiercely insistent on making sure her patients live, whatever the cost may be. This is not a bad thing, in and of its self, but sometimes she will perform surgical procedures that are against patients' consent. I'm sure this is what happened to you when she fitted you for your visor." Said Galvez.

"And you allow this?" His respect for Galvez diminished.

"I have no choice but to admit that I do and I take no pride in it. Nine times out of ten, nothing happens, but this is not the first time one of her experiments came out wrong. This is the second, and I accept full responsibility. I realize that she has a tendency to play Maker, and it is of extreme importance that she saves her patients at all costs, but she must learn to fall back and learn that the limits of her ability are an old foe she can't cheat. I appreciate you calling this to my attention. I will speak with her so I can draw a line where ethics and patient consent meet her will to save lives. If she gets caught doing this again, I will have to ask her to step down as chief medical officer." Said Galvez.

"I realize if she hadn't come, if you hadn't come, if the entire crew of the Armageddon hadn't come, we would have been done for. I just think that Tuur'ika's ends justifying the means need to be addressed." Said. Kanan.

"Once I return to the Armageddon, I will issue her disciplinary action." Said Galvez. 

"Please, don't be too hard on her. She saved our lives." Said Kanan. As Galvez turned to leave, the Ratljóstese obsidian fell from Kanan's fingers and bounced back on the closures of Galvez's coat. The world turned to hyperbolic mush once again.

"Punishment and discipline are not mutually exclusive." Said Galvez as he left the room and and returned to the Armageddon.


	2. Hobbie's Spleen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Sabine, Wedge, and Hobbie go down and the Armageddon comes to their aid, they find themselves unwitting pawns in the Armageddon's ongoing intrigue, and Dr. Ochsner finds herself in over her head.

"This is right a pickle we've gotten ourselves into. We crash-landed in the middle of nowhere, we're feeling the effects of too many g-forces pushing us to the limit, and we're disguised as the enemy." Said Sabine as she wiped blood from her forehead.

"Not to mention it's freezing and we're all injured." Said Wedge. They huddled together to keep warm.

"My left shoulder really hurts." Said Hobbie.

"I guess we die here." Said Wedge.

"Not if I have a say in it." Sabine hoisted herself up, only to find the world spun, her head pounded, and she fell back down.

"Don't tell me you have a brain bleed." Said Wedge.

"Don't tell me you have a blood clot, Wedge! I'm going to find someone to get us off this rock." Sabine then reached for her transmitter. "Third time better be a charm."

Sabine sent out a distress signal.

The frequency crackled with static, followed by an automated "allow me to defer your signal." The frequency crackled with static again.

"Armageddon 29, Ensign Aguirre speaking. What is the nature of your distress signal?" She said.

"Aguirre, if it isn't you!" Said Sabine.

"You must be Sabine from the Ghost crew." Aguirre held in laughter.

"She thinks this is funny?" Growled Hobbie.

"Indeed it is." Said Sabine.

"What's the nature of your distress signal?" Said Aguirre, still holding in laughter.

"We crash-landed in the middle of this stone outcropping." Said Sabine.

"How many of you are there?" Said Aguirre.

"Three." Said Sabine.

"Are any of you injured?" Said Aguirre, still trying not to laugh.

"We have some head trauma and internal bleeding." Said Sabine.

Aguirre paled and her tone turned serious. "What are your coordinates? What is the terrain? Is the air breathable?"

"It'a rocky, but where we are it's flat. The air is breathable. It's cold, perhaps below freezing, but there is no snow." Said Sabine.

"Allow me to discuss with the rest of the command crew. Standby." Said Aguirre.

"Fine communications officer she turned out to be. She thought our distress signal was some kind of joke." Said Wedge.

"You can blame me for that one." Said Sabine.

Aguirre opened the frequency.

"Standby, we're on our way. Armageddon out." Said Aguirre. The network went static.

"The last time we had a taste of the Armageddon, Rex and Kanan and Zeb were in bad shape and they sent out a distress signal, and the Armageddon heard them and diverted their course to rescue them." Said Sabine.

"But still, why should we blame you?" Said Wedge.

"When they were returning Rex and Kanan and Zeb to us, Hera wanted to offer her personal thanks to the captain, and the Armageddon boarding party came at a REALLY bad time."

"How bad could it have been?" Said Wedge.

"Ezra and I...we had just had our first time. We came out to greet them wearing sheets." Said Sabine.

"That explains everything." Said Wedge as he held on tighter to Sabine.

"Could they go any slower?" Said Hobbie.

"Oh my goodness...the captain, the first officer, and the chief engineer all looked like they were sucking on lemons. The communications officer, the one we spoke to, was trying not to laugh the whole time, and the chief medical officer was both trying not to laugh but also seemed to really disapprove of us, and then when she found the empty bottle of birth control potion, she announced 'not bad for a couple of dumb virgins', tossed it aside, and it bounced off Chopper's head. I'll never know if her captain was appalled by her behavior, but Chopper certainly was." Said Sabine.

"I guess that makes you even." Said Wedge.

Sabine held on tighter to Wedge.

"Ouch! That's my bad leg." Said Wedge as she moved to the side.

"I'm certainly never forgetting my first time." Said Sabine. 

"That could have been us, but you didn't have your box of birth control potions with you." Said Wedge.

"Oh yeah, that time at Skystrike. Nothing personal, but my heart belongs to Ezra." Said Sabine.

"It's all right." Said Wedge.

"They haven't forgotten about us, have they?" Said Hobbie.

"They'll be here. I promise it." Said Sabine.

"I think I might have broken my spleen." Said Hobbie.

"How would you know?" Said Wedge.

"I remember hearing somewhere that if your left shoulder hurts really bad it means your spleen is broken." Said Hobbie.

"Well, we'll find out soon enough. The chief medical officer is a force to be reckoned with." Said Sabine.

"That gives us hope." Said Wedge.

"Yeah, she's an Ochsner. We're in good hands." Said Sabine.

"A what?" Moaned Hobbie.

"Clan Ochsner...they're an entire clan of Mandalorian court physicians. Their name is practically synonymous with medicine. Ignaz Ochsner-I don't know how they're related-he was the personal physician of the duchess but turned out to be a double agent for Deathwatch. When the Empire recruited him to their top experimentation lab and he refused, his execution was reportedly the social event of the century." Said Sabine.

"I like her already." Said Wedge.

"She even invented a visor that can restore eyesight to the blind. She tried it out on Kanan but it didn't turn out right. I thought it would be cool to see the entire electromagnetic spectrum, but he hated it. Said everything was too bright and confusing. He hated her for fitting him for it without his consent, but he had some kind of head injury and did it to save his life. As soon as he could take it off he threw it into an ocean." Said Sabine.

"She'll be here none too soon." Said Wedge.

"I don't know her well, but I know her mind is every bit as brilliant as her fashion sense." Said Sabine.

"That's not relevant now!" Said Hobbie.

"But it is! Her armor is black and edged with silver and magenta and her kama is black on the outside, magenta on the inside, and trimmed with a black, silver, and magenta ribbon embroidered with silver mythosaurs. I'm saying so you can know what to look for when she arrives." Said Sabine.

"Why does time seem to go by so much more slowly when you're in pain? You'd think I would know by now but I don't." gasped Hobbie. He shivered and nuzzled up against Sabine and Wedge.

"I wish I knew, but I do know the Armageddon would never forsake us." Said Sabine, right as the Armageddon's shuttle landed not far behind them and crew members began to disembark.

Tuur'ika, Barton, and several other medics, armed and carrying stretcher poles, surgical instrument cases, and first aid cases came over and stood in front of Sabine, Wedge, and Hobbie.

"Dr. Ochsner! Aren't I glad to see your face!" Said Sabine.

"Dr. Ochsner, aren't I glad to see your face." Said Wedge.

"You've never seen my face before." Said Tuur'ika tartly as she knelt down and pulled out a first aid kit.

"Doesn't mean I can't be glad to see your face." Said Wedge.

"This is no time for witty banter. You are not on a date with me." Said Tuur'ika as she and another medic knelt down by him and began to take his vitals. "Where does it hurt? Which leg is the bad one?"

Barton knelt down by Sabine, checked her vitals, took a pen light out from one of the compartments on a side panel on her blue utility dress, turned on the pen light, and shone it in Sabine's eyes.

"She's not PURLing." Barton told Tuur'ika.

"I don't need to tell you what to do next, Barty." Said Tuur'ika. She turned back to Wedge. She felt each of his legs and he recoiled under her touch. "Your right leg is far more swollen than the left. Can you move your ankle?

"I don't know, can you?" Said Wedge.

"You are not making this any easier! I'm going to have to take off your boots." Said Tuur'ika.

"You can take off anything." Said Wedge.

"How about first I'll take off your attitude?" She said as she yanked off his boots, clutched his calf, and flexed his ankle.

"Am I all right?" Said Sabine.

"Your pupils didn't dilate evenly when I shone the light in." Said Barton. She turned Sabine's head to the side. "No signs of bleeding from your ears or nose. Do you remember what happened around the time of the accident?"

"Yes. I remembered what happened. I even made the distress call and kept talking while we waited for you to arrive. The central processing unit is in good working order, just really hurts." Said Sabine as Barton continued to examine her head and another medic checked her for additional injuries.

"We're going to put some bacta on your scalp and once we get to the sickbay and run some additional tests. But first we need to immobilize your head." Said Barton as she got out a roll of tape, a cervical immobilization device, a rolled-up ten point strap restraint, and an expandable spineboard from her messenger bag. "Scripps! Scutari! What's his condition?" She called as she wrapped the tape around Sabine's head.

"It's probably a shoulder strain but could also be broken ribs." Called one of the medics who was tending Hobbie

"His vitals aren't so good. He's about ready to go into shock. Are you sure it's just a broken rib?" Said the other medic who was tending Hobbie.

"We can do the full assessment once we return to the sickbay." Said Tuur'ika as she wrapped tapes around Wedge's ankle. She surveyed her subordinates. "Barton, I see you've gotten her immobilized and that she is stable. Good. Scripps, Scutari, get him stable as fast as possible, Make sure they're stable and keep them warm. All right, now that everyone's stable, we can prepare to leave the scene. Lister, expand the other hover-stretchers." Said Tuur'ika.

"Affirmative." Tuur'ika's partner pulled the stretcher poles apart and set them down. They then transferred Sabine, Wedge, and Hobbie onto the stretchers. 

"Activate hover feature." Said Tuur'ika.

"Affirmative." Said Lister as they headed back to the shuttle.

Tuur'ika was first to return to the shuttle. She belted herself into the jumpseat as the rest of her team soon followed. An engineer who had stayed behind shut the sliding door and ignited the engine. She spoke into her wrist comlink.

"Ochsner to Hartsfield. We are now leaving the scene and are soon to return if we do not encounter high winds. Get the shuttle docking bay ready."

"Your arrival is expected." Said Hartsfield.

As soon as they arrived at the Armageddon, the medical team rushed Sabine, Wedge, and Hobbie to the sickbay, just down the hall, and transferred them onto beds at the back of the sickbay. First, they tended to Sabine.

Tuur'ika, Barton, and Lister laid her back onto the bed, and took out some monitoring devices.

"Lister, you attach vital signs monitors. Barton, get the scanner ready and attach the monitor screen to the headboard while I attach the input sensor, detector ring and inflection coil." Said Tuur'ika as she attached a transcranial headset monitor to Sabine's head.

Tuur'ika studied the image displayed on the screen.

"I see no signs of broken bones, bleeding, or bruising, she's still awake and alert, but we are going to need to keep monitoring the pressure. Lister, get me noninvasive intracranial pressure monitor." Said Tuur'ika.

"Affirmative." Said Lister, retrieving one from a drawer behind them and handing it to her.

"Check the vitals on the other casualties." Said Tuur'ika as she attached the noninvasive intracranial monitor to Sabine's scalp.

Barton walked over to Hobbie's bed. He was pale, clammy, and clutching at his left shoulder.

"How could they leave you in shock like this?" Said Barton as she felt his pulse.

"They just did." Mumbled Hobbie.

"Just because this was the first time Scripps and Scutari were ever on the scene does not give them the excuse, and Ochsner should have known better than to have allowed them to leave you like this." She waited a moment to get a good feel of his pulse.

"Your pulse is soft and rapid, your blood pressure is low, you're frightfully pale, you've had complaints of shoulder pain, I think there's some overlooked internal bleeding." Said Barton.

"How soon can you find out?" Said Hobbie.

"As soon as I can." Said Barton as she palpated Hobbie's abdomen. He winced and was recoiling the whole time, but when her fingers approached the upper left corner, he screamed.

"As I thought." Said Barton.

"Did I break my spleen?" Said Hobbie.

"You didn't break your spleen." Said Barton. "You ruptured your spleen."

"Am I gonna die?" Said Hobbie.

She took one of his hands in hers. "Everyone's going to die, we just don't know when." Said Barton. "I'm going to have to operate." She turned her head. "M0g!"

A gunmetal gray droid with a cylindrical body and gooseneck head and several arm attachments gurgled and squeaked.

"Report to operating theater one and prepare for splenectomy." Said Barton.

M0g gurgled and squeaked and headed off to the operating room.

"I'll take good care of you." Barton said to Hobbie as she pushed him off into the operating room.

Tuur'ika finished attaching the noninvasive intracranial pressure monitor to Sabine's head, washed her hands and turned to Wedge.

"I see you're stable, now I'm going to see what's wrong with that leg of yours. I think it may be a blood clot but I'm going to run some additional tests. When you were out flying, did you take precautions to prevent blood from pooling in your ankles?" Said Tuur'ika as she knelt down and got out an imaging rod.

"We had a confrontation right before we went down." Said Wedge.

"Obviously, now answer my question." Said Tuur'ika as she stood up.

"Your question." Said Wedge.

"The answer is not on my chest plates. I'll tell you that. Unless is that what you were looking at when you went down?" Said Tuur'ika.

"If my vision were that good it would've been." Said Wedge.

Tuur'ika ran the imaging rod down the length of Wedge's right leg. "There's a blood clot in your inner thigh." She observed out loud. "And another behind your knee." "And another in your ankle. I'm going to need to get those taken out before one of them dislodges and you get a pulmonary embolism." She zipped open her surgical instrument case, and set out a scalpel, a dilater, a thrombectomy sheath, an ultrasonic thrombectomy coil, a tube, and a surgical basin on the hoverstand.

"All right, Wedge, I'm going to need you to remove your flight suit so I can access that femoral vein of yours. The tube and thrombectomy sheath will go from inner thigh to ankle." She said as she took another scalpel and slit open the right inner seam of his flight suit, revealing his badly bruised and swollen right leg. 

"This is going to hurt." She said as she felt the length of his right leg. He bent his left knee when she felt the site of the blood clot in his innermost thigh, not batting an eye that her hands were up in his business. She took a scalpel to his innermost thigh, made an incision, and inserted the dilater.

"Should I start thinking pure thoughts now?" Said Wedge as she inserted the tube into the incision.

"If you so desire." Said Tuur'ika as she inserted the ultrasonic thrombectomy coil.

"But I don't have any pure thoughts." Said Wedge.

"Imagine Jabba the Hutt naked on a cold day." Said Tuur'ika as she pushed the thrombectomy coil down his thigh.

"But I don't want any pure thoughts." Said Wedge as she broke apart the first blood clot with the ultrasound coil.

"I know it hurts as I break up the blood clot." Tuur'ika said as she broke apart the first blood clot.

"No it doesn't." Said Wedge as she guided the tube and coil further down to his knee.

"Then why are you moaning?" Said Tuur'ika as she broke apart the blood clot behind his knee with the ultrasound generator coil.

"It's just...ahh!! Unhhhh! GAHHHHH!" He moaned as she guided the tube and coil down to his ankle.

"I know you're in pain, but I'm not stopping now, not when I'm almost done." Said Tuur'ika as she broke apart the blood clot in his ankle, opened the vein, and readied the basin.

"No! I'm not in pain!" Don't stop!" Insisted Wedge.

"That's not what it sounds like to me." Said Tuur'ika as she made the incision in his ankle and drained out the particulate blood clots.

"Don't stop! UNHHH!" Said Wedge just before collapsing.

"Found the blood clots, drained them out, and they've been obliterated. Let me get some anticoagulants." She said as she pulled the tube, sheath, and coil out through his ankle, discarded the tube and fragmented blood clots, bandaged the incision, stood up and then walked over to his vital signs monitor.

"Is your heart rate always this high?" Said Tuur'ika.

"Only when you're around." Said Wedge.

"It is highly unprofessional to assume your doctor will flirt back with you." Said Tuur'ika as she slapped a bottle of anticoagulants on his hoverstand.

"It's just that...you're pretty cute." Said Wedge.

"It's all a glamour. I weigh three hundred pounds, I've cleared up most of my acne, and people touch the hump on my back for good luck." Said Tuur'ika.

Wedge attempted to get out of bed, but Tuur'ika pushed him down.

"Stay in bed. You'll live longer." Said Tuur'ika as she left to tend to another patient.

"But I need to do laundry." Said Wedge.

"Maybe you should have thought those pure thoughts." Said Tuur'ika as she walked away.

Just then, the Gage rolled over in his bed onto his right side and turned to Wedge.

"Don't take anything Dr. Ochsner says seriously. She's like that with everyone. Unless she tells you to 'stay in bed, you'll live longer.' That, she means." Said Gage.

"But fifty million of our unborn children just died in my pants." Said Wedge.

"That's rough, buddy." Said Gage. He raised his head. "If Dr. Ochsner catches me doing this she's gonna be mad." Said Gage as he unwound a length of bandage that was wrapped around his head. "Hopefully it isn't too badly soaked with cerebrospinal fluid." Said Gage as he tore off the length of bandage with his teeth. He leaned over the right side of his bed and handed it over to Wedge. "Knock yourself out." Said Gage.

"What happened to you?" Said Wedge as he cleaned himself up.

"I got a particle beam through the skull." Said Gage.

"How did you survive that?" Said Wedge.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Said Gage. "When it happened, my head was turned away from the uncapped particle generator, and if I understand what Dr. Ochsner says, its trajectory didn't hit any lobes or cortices that would be essential to...I forget what it's called, essential functions like breathing and heart rate and stuff like that." Said Gage.

"And yet you didn't die instantly on contact?" Said Wedge.

"When it happened, I was knocked to my hands and knees from its tremendous force, and chunks of brain and bone and blood had splattered everywhere. Between the pain and seeing the whole gory situation and being startled that it happened so fast, I think I wondered why it didn't kill me. So, two of my crewmates took each of my hands in theirs, and they walked me from the gun turrets to the sickbay." Said Gage.

"Then what happened?" Said Wedge.

"When we arrived in the sickbay, I was able to remember in detail what had happened to Dr. Ochsner. You think Dr. Ochsner is a cold-hearted wretch now? You should have seen her when we arrived! 'HOW DID YOU SURVIVE THAT? 'Why did you survive that! You should've died right then and there! Oppenheimer! Rodman! You both should have had the particle generators capped while the generator matrix was in operation! Why was your head turrned away when the particle generators were uncapped and active? You are the most negligent artillery crew I've ever met!' So here she is, grilling us like we're a trio of bantha steaks, having none of our explanations, when I asked 'will I be able to go back to work soon?', and then I puked on her feet and a chunk of my brain fell out onto her chest plate." Said Gage.

"Nice one." Said Wedge.

"Yeah. I literally gave Dr. Ochsner a piece of my mind!" Said Gage.

"Better than I could do. Not that I envy you but you but still." Said Wedge.

"That's when they got to work cleaning me up. I think they cleaned up the blood and bone fragments and dressed it up or something. That's when the world went blurry and I had my first seizure." Said Gage.

"Was that when things got frightening?" Said Wedge.

"It was like my body had a mind of my own. Like that jerking or falling feeling you sometimes feel right before you fall asleep. Then it passed and I was really dazed, and then it happened again. I think that's when things really got...I don't know frightening, but I knew things were worse than they seemed. It was after my second seizure that Dr. Ochsner told my that she was astonished I survived this, that I should not have survived this, that it could have been prevented, that I might not survive, and if I did I would be a demented, epileptic, semiconsious shell of a person." Said Gage.

"What kind of thing is that to say to a patient?" Said Wedge.

"That's the kind of thing she says! You develop a thick skin when you're around her, but I took it personally. I was feeling better the next day and tried to get out of bed and report to my station when ordered to, but I was barely out of the sickbay when I had another seizure and almost had another injury." Said Gage.

"And must've been where you learned that if she says 'stay in bed, you'll live longer' she means it." Said Wedge.

"That was the occasion, and I felt compelled to say so to every patient I could." Said Gage. "But not long thereafter things started getting worse. I was semi-comatose I was having fifteen seizures a day, I was only speaking in one-word sentences, I wasn't eating, everyone thought I was going to die. Even Galvez, our captain, who is normally so gracious and diplomatic, told Dr. Ochsner to get me fitted for a body bag!" Said Gage.

"Maybe he was giving her an example of how she sounds and seeing how she likes it. That's what it sounds like to me." Said Wedge.

"I could see him doing that at the right place and the right time. Either way, we took it personally, I started getting better. She started discussing with me the possibility of her inventing a cerebral prosthesis of sorts, to gain back lost functions. I was open to it, and she has been poking around there with a tweezers, inserting new wires and things. Not everything she has tried works, but she just takes those out and tries again. but I've gotten some of my abilities back, and I'm down to three seizures a day." Said Gage.

"That's incredible. I could never imagine someone sticking tweezers inside my head." Said Wedge.

I still have a long way to go, but once she has a prototype that is fully effective and safe, she says it will be able to help other people with severe brain injuries. If that is why this was meant to happen, that was why it was meant to happen. If I can get better, anyone can get better. I've even been cleared to give instruction to my artillery crew by comlink." Said Gage. Just then, he got a message on his comlink.

"I must go, my people need me." Said Gage. He spoke into the comlink. "What is it, Oppenheimer?"

"Why is the proton reactor feedback coupler not accelerating?" Said a female voice.

"We've tried everything and it still not accelerating! I'm about ready to smash this thing!" Said a male voice.

"Calm down, Rodman! Let Gage speak!"

"Have you tried reconfiguring the primary power coupling?" Said Gage.

"One moment." Said Rodman. "It works!"

"Thanks, Gage." Said Oppenheimer. 

"It was no trouble at all." Said Gage. 

"Finally, you give us help without telling the entire life story of the person in the bed next to you!" Said Oppenheimer.

"Nobody asked for your opinion, Laura." Said Gage.

"I still liked you better before your accident." Said Oppenheimer. She then hung up.

"Why would she like you better before your accident?" Said Wedge.

"My personality has changed a lot since my accident." Said Gage.

"How were you different before?" Said Wedge.

"Before my accident I didn't talk much and was very stoic. I was also really shy and reserved and introverted. Since the accident, I've become really talkative and impulsive and have no filter and nobody likes that. Rodman said that since the accident I'm 'no longer Gage' and Oppenheimer said that before my accident I had no personality, since my accident I'm all personality." Said Gage.

"Why would they turn on you just because you changed after your accident? If they can't take you for who you are because of your accident, it sounds like they were not your friends to begin with." Said Wedge.

"I guess some people can't handle the new Gage. To be honest, I can't either at times. Everything has been surreal since the accident. I know I'm still me, I still have all of my memories, I still remember myself as being very stoic and reserved and not talking much before the accident. Now that the accident has happened, I'm still me, but I'm me with a piece of brain missing, and I'm me who will talk about everything with everyone and doesn't hold things back. I know pre-accident me wouldn't have cared, or at least been very private about how everybody can't stand my new personality, old me would have ignored it, I now will call everybody and everyone out on if they say or do something offensive to me or anyone." Said Gage.

"Well I never knew you before your accident, so I have no one to compare to." Said Wedge.

"You mean it?" Said Gage.

"I do. And I'm not just saying that because you helped my get out of my, ahem, sticky situation. I would still like you now, even if I had know you before your accident." Said Wedge.

"You really mean it?" Said Gage.

"Why would I not? It's not every day I meet someone who got a particle beam through their head and survived to tell about it." Said Wedge.

"You have no idea how much that means to me. My name is Gage, by the way."

"I'm Wedge." They reached as far as they could over the sides of their beds and waved hands at each other.

"Nice to meet you, Gage." Said Wedge.

"Nice to meet you too, Wedge. I don't know how long you're staying here, but I sure don't see us running out of things to talk about. I've already chewed your ears off about me, I'm sure you're full of stories." Said Gage.

"I scored in terms of bed mates." Said Wedge.

"That's what the first girl I ever talked to without my innards turning to jelly said." Said Gage.

"How so?" Said Wedge.

"Prior to my accident, I thought about girls all the time, but was too shy to speak to them. One day there was a girl...she was in the next bed-not the one you're on but the one to my left, and I had just slipped into consciousness when I saw her crying. I felt so bad for her I unwound a length of bandage and let her dry her eyes on it. She explained Dr. Ochsher had raked her over the coals about not wearing protective gear while servicing the artificial gravity generators and she was bawling her eyes out. It made me feel so bad. Then when Dr. Ochsner caught me sharing a bandage with her, I raked her over the coals about not saying those sort of things to people that way. She said she didn't know it would offend. I said saying things like that, especially when you don't know their whole story, is like driving a transport drunk and then when the cops pull you over saying you didn't know drunk driving was illegal. I said that I knew full well not to unwind my bandages, but she brought it on herself. I said if she wanted to say things that will make people cry, at least supply them with tissues or something else to wipe their eyes so that I don't need to!" Her eyes were as wide as deflector shields."

"Sounds like you gave her a taste of her own medicine." Said Wedge.

"It's about time." Said Gage. "Dr. Ochsner is a mean, tight-fisted woman, but she's always saving people's lives so we're off the hook." Said Gage.

"Guess the joke is on us in that regard." Said Wedge.

"Yeah, once you owe someone your life you really can't complain." Said Gage.

"And that's how she gets away with being a bitch." Said Wedge.

"It's not just that. When she was younger, maybe about my age, during one of those conflicts her people are always getting into, she got stabbed in the lower abdomen and had to have her uterus and six inches of small intestine removed. Without anaesthesia." Said Gage.

"Is it any wonder she's such a bitch?" Said Wedge.

"Of course it's no wonder she's such a bitch! That will do that to a person." Said Gage. "It's also why she is so stingy with the painkillers and anaesthetics."

"She's not just stingy with the painkillers, she takes every opportunity she can to operate without anaesthesia, and that's not just during a brain surgery where the patient is needed awake or after a battle with lots of casualties!" Called the Armageddon crew member in the bed in front of Gage.

"And your captain allows for this?" Said Wedge.

"She removes his brain tumor and he thinks she can do no wrong." Said Gage.

"Not just do no wrong, she removes a tumor the size of a shuura fruit while he's giving command on the bridge and suddenly he thinks binary sunshine comes out of her ass!" Said the Armageddon crew member in the bed in front of Wedge.

"Basically. Really like our captain, he's great, but I'm amazed he's ignored Dr. Ochsner's shenanigans for so long. Basically if you need surgery, you'd better hope there's a surplus of anesthetics, or not come in at all unless you're severely injured or dying, because she might operate on you while awake or rip you a new one about how negligent and lazy you were or how your situation could have been prevented. I've seen the toughest people broken down by her in both those ways. I don't know how the rest of the medical personnel put up with her every day. If there's one good thing about my accident, I've been able to call her out on her behavior, and it's immensively satisfying." Said Gage.

"I would bet." Said Wedge.

"If anything, I think my calling her out on her behavior is rubbing off onto Barton. She's the surgeon's mate." Said Gage.

"She was a member of the landing party that came and rescued us." Said Wedge.

"She's the total opposite of Dr. Ochsner. She's gentle, she's compassionate, she never says an unkind word, she's always asking if you're comfortable...and she gets it harder than all the other medical staff put together. Since I had my accident and I started calling out Dr. Ochsner, Barton has been following my example. Mainly it's just the little things, like 'Did you realize what you just said invalidates all the work I did?' or 'why did you take the credit for all the work I just did?' They might be small, but I think Dr. Ochsner might be feeling threatened by her." Said Gage.

"If you think she may feel threatened, do you think they're headed for a confrontation?" Said Wedge.

"We'll wait and see." Said Gage.

Just then, Barton came out pushing Hobbie on a hover stretcher with M0g in tow. She transferred him to the bed to Gage's left, attached the IV bag to a stand, and then set his spleen, pickled in formaldehyde in a jar, on the stand next to his bed. 

Wedge sat up in bed. "How is he? Did he really break his spleen?"

"You don't break a spleen, you rupture a spleen, and Hobbie ruptured his spleen pretty good. I put him under anaesthesia, plucked out his spleen, put in a synthetic replacement, sewed him up, and now he's out like a light. I expect him to wake up soon." Said Barton.

"That's really good news." Said Wedge.

"It is indeed." Said Barton. "Keep an eye on his vitals, M0g."

M0g gurgled in affirmation as Barton washed her hands and then turned to Gage.

"Look who's in the pink." Said Barton as she came checking rounds. She held up Gage's brain monitor. "Look at all that positive cerebral activity."

"What does that mean?" Said Wedge.

"It's a cerebral monitor to check Gage's brain activity." Said Barton as she scrolled through it. "When the squiggles are pink and on top of the chart, that means he's engaging in high level brain functioning." Scroll back a few weeks and the squiggles were practically non-existent." Said Barton.

"Does it see what he thinks?" Said Wege.

"No, it doesn't see what he thinks. Just that he is thinking. I'm sure the All-Seeing Eye of Ochsner would like to see what people are thinking, but I think there are some thoughts that people are entitled to keep to themselves." Said Barton. She knelt by Gage's left. "I'm going to be changing your dressings."

"Ok." Said Gage.

"Raise your head." Said Barton.

Gage raised his head as Barton began to unwind the bandages around Gage's head. 

"You've been sharing your bandages again." She said.

"Uhh..." both Gage and Wedge were really glad Gage's brain monitor couldn't record what people were thinking.

"You know you're not supposed to." Said Barton firmly but politely as she debrided Gage's entrance wound.

"I couldn't leave my brethren in need." Said Gage.

"Couldn't leave your brethren in need." Said Barton with a note of scorn in her voice as she began to patch the entrance wound.

"I plead the eleventeenth." Said Gage as she removed the electrodes from his forehead.

"I have no idea what that means, but you know your head needs to be properly dressed to allow adequate cerebroapinal fluid drainage." Said Barton as she attached new electrodes to Gage's forehead. "You know full well that if you don't have adequate drainage or that if the drainage is blocked, you will get swelling on what's left of your brain and that will make your condition back to where you were when Galvez told Ochsner to get you fitted for a body bag and you don't want that." Said Barton as she debrided Gage's exit wound.

"Of course I know." Said Gage as Barton wound Gage's head in fresh bandages.

"And yet you do anyway." Said Barton as she tucked the loose end of Gage's bandage underneath the other bandages. She washed her hands and turned to Wedge.

"That swelling has gone down exponentially." Said Barton as she examined his right leg.

"That's not the only thing that's gone down." Said Wedge. 

"The incisions are healing well, your vitals are looking good, is there anything I can bring you?" Said Barton.

"No, I'm fine-" Wedge's heart skipped a beat when Barton found the semen-encrusted bandage. She daintily discarded it as if it was nothing.

"I don't know why Dr. Ochsner doesn't believe in tissues. We have no shortage and she should know that bodily fluids can spill at a moment's notice. I thought she was better at planning than that." She said as she took a box of tissues out of a cabinet behind them and set it on a collapsible side-platform beside Wedge's bed. "Gage, you have no excuses for sacrificing your bandages on the altar of other peoples' bodily fluids and your good nature. I apologize she brought this on you." Said Barton as she washed her hands and left.

"Even though Dr. Ochsner is the sexy one, Barton is the one who actually knows how to run a sickbay. Is there a reason Dr. Ochsner is chief medical officer and she isn't?" Said Wedge.

"Dr. Ochsher is a brain surgeon." Said Gage.

"She's overqualified." Said Wedge.

"She's from a long line of Mandalorian court physicians." Said Gage.

"That makes it official." Said Wedge.

"Some people say it's because she technically isn't a doctor, but you don't technically need to be a doctor to be chief medical officer. Some people say it's because she's spineless, but then I've had bed mates who've told me she can fight like a beast while on the scene when the Imps ignore the whole 'don't open fire on the medics' thing." Said Gage. She has it in her, all right. I'm sure she can learn to assert herself, even if nobody else does. The good news is she's been picking up my example in standing up to Dr. Ochsner on her undesirable behavior now more than ever. Dr. Ochsner is mean to everyone, but especially to Barton. She used to take Dr. Ochsner's verbal abuse standing up, but now she's following my example and actually standing up to her, and not just about things that go on in the sickbay. The other day when they were off duty I overheard heard Barton say to Dr. Ochsner 'You call me fat and then wonder why I don't want any ice cream? I thought you were smarter than that.' I wish I could have seen the look on Dr. Ochsner's face, but just listening to Barton stand up for herself was worth the price of admission." Said Gage.

"Wait, why would she call her fat?" Said Wedge. "Not only is it none of her business, but Barton isn't fat."

"Power, my new friend. Power." Said Gage.

"Though playing dark side's advocate, she is talking back to her superior officer." Said Wedge.

"It's not her responsibility to call her fat. She's just seeing how far she can go to break her spirits, because all her past efforts haven't worked." Said Gage.

Just then, Tuur'ika walked up to the foot of Hobbie's bed and surveyed what had happened.

"Barton, what is the meaning of this?"

Barton turned from tending the patient in the bed in front of Hobbie and turned to Tuur'ika.

"I performed a splenectomy on Hobbie." Said Barton.

"Why did you do it?" Said Tuur'ika.

"Because he had ruptured his spleen and was in severe pain with severe internal bleeding that had been overlooked during triage. Nobody else was available to do it so I did it." Said Barton.

"You don't know how to perform a splenectomy." Said Ochsner.

"Oh yes I do. I know how to perform lots of surgeries. Living proof is right in front of you." Said Barton.

"You don't have surgical clearance." Said Tuur'ika.

"Well you talk about saving lives until our ears go numb, I just did save his life!" Said Barton.

"You should have waited for me." Said Tuur'ika.

"Waited for you while you what? Performed a very intimate thrombectomy on a patient of the opposite sex who was obviously infatuated with you? He was the one who could have waited, not Hobbie." Said Barton.

"You could have done your best to make him comfortable until then." Said Tuur'ika.

"Make him more comfortable? Make him more comfortable my right eye! You are virulently opposed to painkillers and anaesthetics of all varieties unless there's a surplus. Even if you had performed Hobbie's splenectomy, you would have had him wide awake while you unseamed him groin to sternum and pushed his organs aside to yank out his ruptured spleen while he screamed his lungs out, as he no doubt would have had you been his surgeon! And you would have gone along on your merry way with it as if it were nothing." Said Barton. Said Barton.

"Are you implying I'm a sadist?" Said Tuur'ika.

"I'm not implying you're a sadist, I'm outright stating you're a sadist!" Said Barton.

"Pain builds character. My injury certainly toughened me up and when I make someone stronger through pain I know that I've done a job well done. It's only bad because society tells us it is. On my home planet we have different views." Said Ochsner.

"Now you're an embarrassment to your people AND your profession!" Said Barton.

"I can attest to that. Sadists are kind of considered depraved in our culture." Added Sabine.

"I had him sound asleep and took measures to minimize the invasiveness of the procedure. I might not have surgical clearance, but I performed a successful splenectomy to save Hobbie's life. The surgery was a success, he's out like a light, and I expect him to wake up soon and make a complete recovery. Good medical officers save lives no matter what." Said Barton.

""Do you have any idea how bad things could turn out for you for performing that surgery without clearance? I'm concerned for you." Said Ochsner.

"Concerned for me? That's your flimsiest excuse yet! You're concerned for me, and yet if you get caught doing any experimentation without consent, you're going to get your commission retracted." Said Barton.

"It's for your own good. It's for the greater good." Said Ochsner.

"For your own good? For the greater good? That's what the Empire says. That's what they say in their experimentation labs." Said Barton.

"I know. I worked in one for about a week." Said Tuur'ika.

"The very same labs that conduct experiments on sentient beings. Without their consent. Experiments where they cut open hapless victims and sew them up like they're fabrics while fully awake! Where they do not inform victims of the dangers, where they cannot say yes or no, where they may be subjected to a fate worse than death if they survive...all of which go on right here in our sickbay. ARE YOU NO BETTER THAN THE PEOPLE WHO KILLED YOUR FATHER?" said Barton.

Tuur'ika's eyes widened and she gasped. "I regret not being able to save my father, but still, why did you do it?" She sputtered, floundering.

"Since evidently you're unable to come up with a good answer to my question, I'll come up with a good answer for yours. Even though I do not have surgical clearance and am fully aware that I could get my commission retracted and get court martialed for it, the reason I removed Hobbie's spleen while he was anesthetized in order to save his life, BECAUSE EVEN THOUGH YOU'RE NO BETTER THAN THE PEOPLE WHO KILLED YOUR FATHER, I MOST CERTAINLY AM!" Said Barton.

"YOU JUST WAIT UNTIL GALVEZ HEARS ABOUT THIS!" Said Tuur'ika as she stormed out of the sickbay and off to the bridge.

Barton's heart was in her throat as she made her way to the front of the sickbay.

"The moment we've all been waiting for is finally here." Said Gage.

"We knew it was a matter of if and not a matter of when that someone stood up to her, but I never would have guessed it would have been Barton." Said Lister.

"Yeah, Barton who's always so gentle and compassionate and never says an unkind word...and the only person here who hasn't had her spirit broken by the 'good' doctor." Said another medical staff member.

"Has Dr. Ochsner just made a Mandalorian spectacle of herself, or on the Armageddon, is this just Tuesday?" Said Sabine as Lister took her vitals.

"She's always making scenes, but this one's bigger than normal." Said Lister.

"Yeah. She's the type of person that if she asks you to jump, you have to ask 'how high?'" Said Sabine. 

"If she ever asks me to jump, I'm jumping out the nearest porthole." Said Lister.

Barton was quaking in her boots in a very literal sense of the term as she stood at the front of the sickbay as Ochsner and Galvez entered. His presence was stately, his presence was comforting, as always, but she still knew she had been taking back to her superior officer a lot lately, and it was a matter of when, not a matter of if, that it caught up with her.

"Hephzibah Barton, did you perform an emergency splenectomy on Derek Klivian?" Said Galvez.

"Yes, Captain" Said Barton.

"Do you have surgical clearance?" Said Galvez.

"No, Captain." Said Barton.

"Did you anesthetize your patient, despite stocks of anesthetics being close to depletion?" Said Galvez.

"Yes, Captain." Said Barton. 

"Was your patient in imminent danger of losing life or limb?" Said Galvez.

"Yes, sir. He had ruptured his spleen. His internal bleeding was severe." Said Barton.

"Did your patient survive?" Said Galvez.

"Yes, sir. He is on bed 47 in the back row, sleeping soundly and I expect him to wake up any minute now." Said Barton.

"She had no right to do this. She does not have surgical clearance and she used my anaesthetics even though supplies were short." Said Tuur'ika.

"If you had performed the surgery, would you have used anaesthetics?" Said Galvez.

"I would not have. Not while anaesthetics are in short supply and best used judiciously." Said Tuur'ika.

"How do you define in short supply?" Said Galvez.

"At a surplus or at capacity." Said Tuur'ika.

"Can you show me an inventory?" Said Galvez.

Barton took out a holotab and displayed an inventory. She held her breath as Galvez scrolled through it.

"It appears to me that our inventories indicate that while our anesthetics inventory is not at capacity, there are sufficient anaesthetics to meet the current demand of this ship, plus sufficient to provide relief to additional guests should the need arise. I am all in favor of judicious use of supplies but redefining shortage to meet one's own personal satisfaction is uncalled for." Said Galvez.

Barton put the holotab away.

"So tell me, Barton, did you, even though you lacked surgical clearance, perform an anesthetized splenectomy in order to save the life of Hobbie Klivian?" Said Galvez.

"Yes, Captain." 

"Did you call Dr. Ochsner a sadist?"

"Yes, Captain."

"Did you compare her to the Empire?" Said Galvez.

"Yes, Captain."

"Did you say to her, and I quote, 'even though you're no better than the people who killed your father, I most certainly am.'" Said Galvez.

"Yes, Captain." Said Barton.

"Did you yell at her when you said it?" Said Galvez.

"Yes, Captain." Said Barton.

"Meet me in my quarters at 1800 for tea and biscuits. We can discuss the matter of getting you surgical clearance then." Said Galvez.

Barton breathed a sigh of relief.

Galvez then turned to Tuur'ika and pointed at the diamond in the center of her chest plate with one finger.

"Dr. Tuur'ika Ochsner, I like you, my ship wouldn't be without you, and I owe you my life, but you have me disillusioned once and for all. I will not be having you turning the sickbay-"

"With all due respect, captain, this is my sickbay and I will run it how I see fit." Said Tuur'ika.

"This might be your sickbay, but your sickbay is on my ship and I will not be having you turning it into any more of a charnel house than it is already capable of being. You need to put your past traumas and aside and not intentionally put any patient through any undue pain, suffering, or trauma." Said Galvez.

"Louder! So the people in the back can hear!" Called Wedge.

"Unless there is a dangerous shortage or all stocks have been exhausted, or you are performing a brain surgery where the patient is required to be awake, you will anaesthetize and provide painkillers to patients who are in need of it within the limits of proper dosage. You have no right to intentionally subject any patient of yours to physical pain and suffering or emotional or mental trauma. I have turned many a blind eye and deaf ear towards your reprehensible goings-on, and that stops now. You must swallow your pride and come to terms with the fact that you will lose patients. In addition to not performing any experimentation without patient consent, you will not be withholding narcotics or anaesthetics from patients, your insistence that pain builds character and obsession with saving lives be damned. I know you desire to be better than the people who killed your father, and you will be in providing an exceptionally high standard of care that is worthy of our crew, our guests, and our cause. It is also high time you stopped being unappreciative of the surgeon's mate you wish you had and started being appreciative of the surgeon's mate you do have." Said Galvez.

The entire sickbay-staff members, droids, and patients who were capable of it-erupted into applause, shouts, cheering, and whistling.

"Ochsner, Barton, once your shifts are over, you are both confined to your quarters." Said Galvez. He then turned and left for the bridge.

Just then, Hobbie stirred and and opened his eyes.

"What's all the yelling about?" He mumbled.

"Your spleen." Said Wedge as he sat up in bed.

"What about it?" Hobbie mumbled, still reeling from the anaesthesia.

"You had it removed, and were spared the trauma of having Dr. Ochsner remove it." Said Wedge.

"Trauma?" Said Hobbie. 

"Don't let Dr. Ochsner's pretty face fool you. She's a decadent sadist deep down, and if she had removed your spleen she would have had you wide awake for it due to a self-proclaimed anesthetics shortage and you would have been bolted to the table while she cut you open and yanked out your spleen and sewed you up and you would have been left in really bad pain and traumatized for life." Said Wedge.

"I don't remember any...anything..." said Hobbie.

"That's because Barton performed the surgery while you were asleep. Said Wedge.

"I don't get it." Said Hobbie.

"Barton is a nurse, not a surgeon, but she removed your spleen because you would have died if she hadn't. When Dr. Ochsner found out, she blew her stacks because Barton doesn't have surgical clearance, and ran the risk of getting her commission retracted and getting court martialed. Then Barton stood up to Dr. Ochsner about how she's always fussing about saving lives no matter what and called her out on her sadism and how her sadism made her no better than the Empire, and the reason she removed your spleen even though she was aware of the consequences was to save your life, and because even though Dr. Ochsner was no better than the Empire, Barton was." Said Wedge.

"Why is it so loud?" Said Hobbie.

"After Barton exposed Dr. Ochsner for the truth about herself, Dr. Ochsner got really mad and called in the captain. He heard them out, and it turns out Barton did nothing wrong and is arranging to get her surgical clearance. He then told Dr. Ochsner that he was through with her shenanegains and she had to stop with the sadism and start appreciating Barton and Dr. Ochsner was humbled in front of the entire sickbay." Said Wedge.

"That's what all the yelling was about." Added Gage.

"All this fuss over my spleen, and I slept right through it." Mumbled Hobbie, coming to slightly. 

"You disappointed?" Said Gage.

"I now know how it feels to be the guest of honor at a funeral. Everyone is talking about you but you can't hear or see any of it." Mumbled Hobbie.

"But you have proof it actually happened. Look to your hoverstand. Barton made your spleen into a shake'em up snowy souvenir thing." Said Wedge.

Hobbie turned his head to find his spleen in the jar of formaldehyde on his hoverstand. It seemed sad, inocuous, and pathetic, sitting in the jar.

"And that thing tried to kill me?" Said Hobbie.

"It would have killed you, had not Barton gone above and beyond the call of duty." Said Wedge.

"You weren't the only one here today who got their spleen removed, Hobbie." Said Sabine.

"Did someone else get their spleen removed?" Said Wedge.

"Dr. Ochsner is full of spleen and Barton removed that too. After being undervalued for too long, she showed Dr. Ochsner what happens when you awaken all the beasts that sleep within her seemingly gentle form. She found Dr. Ochsner's weak spot, and ripped out Dr. Ochsner's spleen with her teeth." Said Sabine.

"Sabine, did you hit your head harder than we thought?" Said Wedge.

"You didn't know? Spleen doesn't only mean an organ. Spleen can also mean anger and animosity and ill will." Said Sabine.

"Dr. Ochsner is full of the stuff." Said Gage.

"'Venting one's spleen means ranting about how horrible you feel about someone or something, and if I can put one and one together, it leads me to believe she's spent many an hour venting her spleen to Galvez about all the ways Barton annoys her." Said Sabine.

"Smart girl." Said Lister.

"And I don't forsee her venting her spleen all that often from now on if she wants to stay here. I also think Barton's days as Dr. Ochsner's doormat are numbered." Said Sabine.

"I think her days of her patients and subordinates being her doormat are numbered." Said Wedge.

"I sure hope so. You have it easy. You're guests. You'll get to leave eventually. Us crew members have to take her for all she's worth. If your splenectomy has finally lead to Dr. Ochsner stopping with the cruelty, you will have done us all a huge favor." Said Gage.

"Don't count on it." Muttered Hobbie as he fought to stay awake. 


	3. With Great Hour

Galvez returned to the bridge and stood next to Tredd.

"My chief medical officer is a psychopath." Said Galvez.

"Give her a promotion." Said Tredd.

"I'm not giving her a promotion!" Said Galvez.

"It would be the humanest way of which to dispose of her." Said Tredd.

"I'm not getting rid of her." Said Galvez.

"Attain an android programmed to perform advanced surgery, promote Ochsner and give her a new assignment, and then promote Barton to chief medical officer. Her manner in which she interacts with patients and other medical personnel as well as her set of moral principles relating to or affirming a specific code of conduct pertaining to medical sciences are and have always been far superior." Said Tredd.

"If you were to get rid of her, you'd have to get rid of me too. No android could ever remove a brain tumor from me while I was giving command on the bridge, or have found a way to save Hartsfield's arm after he got it mangled. A droid would have amputated it and gotten him fitted for a prosthetic. He even declined a prosthetic ring finger to display how he'd rather keep the vast majority of the organic limb" Said Galvez.

"I do believe Dr. Ochsner and Hartsfield have an ongoing debate as to who puts the arm in Armageddon." Said Tredd.

"It's called an inside joke." Said Galvez.

Tredd gave Galvez a dirty look.

"Let's not no forget no droid could ever hope to do what she's doing with Gage. As soon as I found out what happened to him, I didn't think he would make it. I prepared a letter for his mother that she wouldn't want to recieve. I told Ochsner in no uncertain terms to get him fitted for a body bag." Said Galvez.

"I presume she took kindly to your out of character impersonation of her bedside manner, and I say so with sarcasm." Said Tredd.

"Oh, she said it was the most un-captainly thing I ever said. I said she says un-doctorly things all the time and I get one turn. I would never ordinarily say anything so horrible, but it had to be said to her. And yet, look at her now. A droid could have patched him up and hoped for the best, but she is actually inventing new cerebral prostheses for him to regain lost spacial functioning and it is actually working and Gage is consenting to it has a good prognosis. And to think she wanted to perform a splenectomy on someone we rescued without anesthesia when there was no reason to." Said Galvez.

"Considering what she endured, is it any wonder she feels compelled that is what she must put others through?" Said Tredd.

"I should have remembered." Said Galvez.

"Not that I'm saying she has any right to intentionally transform the sickbay into a place of violence." Said Tredd.

"The sickbay already is a place of violence" fumed Galvez.

"Short of bringing the dead back to life, there's nothing she wouldn't do to save a patient, even if it meant subjecting a patient to a fate worse than death." Said Tredd.

"I feel guilty that I let so much of her mad palaver go on right under my nose. And yet then we get people like Gage. I didn't give Gage much of a second thought, I don't think anyone outside of artillery gave him a second thought." Said Galvez.

"And then he gets a particle beam through the skull and suddenly he becomes a person of great fame amongst all ranks of our crew." Said Tredd.

"That he survived goes without saying, but the fact that Dr. Ochsner is creating new cerebral prostheses for him. She is willing to invent and he is a willing test subject. Her invention will do a world of good for other people with traumatic brain injuries. But as I said, Gage is a willing and consenting subject and the cause is accidental. Had she sided with the enemy, they would have ruthlessly maimed a hapless victim and she would have experimented on them with abandon. Sometimes I think we're the only ones holding her back from defecting." Said Galvez.

"After what they did to her father, she'd never." Said Tredd.

"She's spiteful; she's cruel, she's innovative beyond all measure-"

"And those are just her good qualities." Chimed in Bowditch, not looking up from the navigation interface.

"Jon, neither of us inquired you of your view or judgment not necessarily based in fact or knowledge." Said Tredd.

"I beg your pardon, Number One." Said Bowditch, still not looking up from the navigation interface.

"She's condescending, she's sarcastic, she's manipulative, she's sadistic, she's stingy, and yet she's brilliant. And yet...there's no one I would rather have there for me in my hour of need." Said Galvez.

"I admire your ability to put up with her." Said Tredd. "Most people would have had her arrested long ago, and if not then, sent in security at this very moment to tell her 'drop that scalpel, you are under arrest." Said Tredd.

"If you get rid of her, you'd have to get rid of me too. I'm the one who enabled this. I'll be watching her like a hawk. Everything she does will be analyzed, and every step of her care coordination will be controlled. If I or anyone catches her, she will suffer the consequences, and by extension, I will too. It will not be easy, but it's the price I must pay to have her as our chief medical officer, for there is no one I would rather have there for me in my hour of need." Said Galvez.

"With great hour comes great responsibility." Said Tredd.

\--

"Dr. Ochsner, we have command crew up front who want to see you." Said Lister.

"Oh?" Said Tuur'ika as she wiped her hands on a paper towel.

"Yeah. Our helmsman and one of our communications officers are at the front of the sickbay." Said Lister.

Tuur'ika headed to the front of the sickbay to find Bowditch and Aguirre at the front.

"What are your symptoms?" Said Tuur'ika.

"None of us are sick. We have something really important to tell you." Said Aguirre.

"Can we talk about it in your office?" Said Bowditch.

"Come with me." Tuur'ika reluctantly lead them to her office in the back of the sickbay and shut the door behind them. Her office was spartan, aside from a desk, a computer, some chairs, a table, and some framed holopics in black, silver, and magenta frames.

Tuur'ika, Bowditch, and Aguirre sat down at the table.

"Jon, Araceli, make it quick. Once my shift is over I'm confined to quarters." Said Tuur'ika.

"Galvez and Tredd have a plan in place to get rid of you." Said Aguirre.

"How do you know this?" Said Tuur'ika.

"Galvez and Tredd were talking about it on the bridge." Said Aguirre.

"Talking about something clandestine on the bridge where everyone can hear? I thought they were smarter than that." Said Tuur'ika.

"I guess they didn't think it would be of consequence to any of us." Said Aguirre. "But they have a plan to get rid of you."

"You know I don't approve of sowing gossip." Said Tuur'ika.

"You don't approve of sowing gossip? There's more gossip on the Armageddon than in our entire rebel cell put together." Said Aguirre.

"Maybe if you and our chief engineer ever come to a conclusion as to who puts the arm in Armageddon, he could take you for a tour of the engines to show you how the Armageddon runs on gossip." Said Bowditch.

"So, what is it?" Said Tuur'ika.

"The plan is to give you a promotion, then a new assignment on another ship, then promote Barton to chief medical officer." Said Aguirre.

Tuur'ika's heart sank, but she was not surprised. "Why do you care? Why do you want me to know? I thought both of you had beef with me." Said Tuur'ika.

"We're not informing you because we like you, we're informing you because we know a lot of us have homes and families in our home system, and you have nowhere to go." Said Aguirre as she picked up a small holo in a black, silver, and magenta frame. It contained a picture of a man in black, silver, and blue Mandalorian armor, in chains, on his knees, with his head bowed, while a stormtrooper held his chains and a Mandalorian supercommando held a gun to his head, while an adolescent boy and girl, in black, silver, and green Mandalorian armor and black, silver, and light pink Mandalorian armor respectively, presumably Tuur'ika's brother and sister, sat aghast on a bench on the back of the scaffold while a much younger, hysterical Tuur'ika was held back by two Mandalorian supercommandos.

"Yes, that's me, no, I haven't aged a day." Said Tuur'ika as she took the frame from Aguirre's hands and placed it facedown on the table.

"So yeah, if the Armageddon is your home, you'd better get your act together and keep it that way." Said Aguirre.

"No experimenting on anyone unless they allow it and don't operate on anyone without anaesthesia. Should be common sense to most people but apparantly with you, common sense isn't all that common." Said Bowditch.

"You'd better not treat anyone the way you treated me when I got my fingers slammed in a door and you'd better treat Barton like the angel of the battlefield that she is." Said Aguirre.

"And if you get a promotion, beware." Said Bowditch.

Bowditch and Aguirre stood up from the table.

"By your leave." Said Bowditch. He opened the door and exited with Aguirre, shutting the door behind them.

Tuur'ika picked up the face-down frame and gazed at the image of the scene therein, to which no amount of her bribery, loophole abuse, manipulation, or siding with a sworn enemy and participating in a sentient being experimentation program could have prevented. She gazed at the picture of her father that had been taken just moments before his life was ended.

"Dad, even though I'm no better than the people who killed you, Barton most certainly is." She said, and then held the picture to her chest plates and closed her eyes.

Barton was putting her hair in a topknot and viciously pinching her cheeks and biting her lips in front of one of the mirrors over one of the sinks in valiant effort to make her plain face more presentable in the absence of cosmetics.

"What are you getting yourself all gussied up for?" Said Gage as he turned himself prone.

"I have an appointment with our captian." Said Barton.

"I thought you were confined to quarters after your shift was over." Said Gage.

"My appointment with Galvez is at 1900 hours, and my shift ends at 1900 hours." Said Barton.

"I see what he did there." Said Wedge.

Tuur'ika then returned from her office.

"Enjoy your meeting." Said Tuur'ika.

"By your leave." Said Barton. She saluted Tuur'ika and left.

"Is there anything I can get any of you?" Tuur'ika's voice was insincere, even though her intention was.

"Nah. I'm fine." Said Gage.

"Would you happen to offer a change of clothes?" Said Wedge.

"I can arrange that." Said Tuur'ika. "Lister! We need a change of clothes at bed forty-five! I'm sure we have some spare uniforms lying around here somewhere!"

"Could I have a glass of water?" Said Sabine.

"Coming right up." Tuur'ika took a cup from one of the cupboards, filled it with water from the nearest sink, and placed it on Sabine's hoverstand. Sabine sat up, took the glass, and downed it in one gulp.

"Do you offer free refills?" Said Sabine.

"I'm not about to let you die of thirst." Said Tuur'ika and refilled the glass and handed it to Sabine. She chugged half of it and set it down and laid back.

"This thing must weigh a ton." Said Sabine. "How does anyone wear a noninvasive intracranial pressure monitor for an extended period of time?"

"Usually patients who need them are far less alert than you. I don't think you'll need to wear it for much longer." Said Tuur'ika as she checked the gage.

"You sure you don't want me to just tough it out?" Said Sabine.

"No, you're not A'chil'ë the Invincible." Said Tuur'ika.

"Wait, what, who?" Said Sabine.

"A'chil'ë the Invincible was a Mandalorian folk hero who bathed in a river that made him impervious to all injury. One of his heroic deeds was that tore down a fortified wall just by headbutting it and he wasn't even wearing a helmet." Said Tuur'ika.

"Darn. Where can I bathe in that river?" Said Sabine.

"Who's to say, but I'm not so sure I would want to. Turns out he was invulnerable everywhere except the heel, and him getting stabbed in the heel with a lightsaber was what did him in." Said Tuur'ika.

"Did this actually happen?" Said Sabine.

"Probably not, but I find myself relating to A'chil'ë a lot lately." Said Tuur'ika.

The air between them was dense.

"If you like, I have a book of Mandalorian folktales I could loan you. My father used to read them to me when I was a kid, even though we knew them all by heart." Said Tuur'ika.

"Are you sure?" Said Sabine.

"I'm sure. I trust you. Your head is doing better." Said Tuur'ika as she left momentarily and returned with the thick, yellowed book and placed it on Sabine's hoverstand.

"An actual book?" Said Sabine as she studied the illustration on the front.

"My father was not only a fine doctor and a brave warrior, but also a gentleman and a scholar." Said Tuur'ika. "Just don't spill anything on it or strain your eyes too much."

Just then, the patient on the bed front of Sabine placed a cup of juice on the precarious edge of their hoverstand. It fell to the ground, pinkish-red juice splattering everywhere.

"Darn it!" Said the patient.

"I'm going to be cleaning that right up." Said Tuur'ika as she took a fistful of paper towels and some disinfectant and got on her hands and knees and scrubbed up the spilled juice. As she worked, she sang:

_Solus ste'p Ni hiibir let bic hettir let bic a'che le'ads ni chaashya be'chaaj teh te p'a'st_

_Ni Kelir draar am ner bal Ni Kelir ba'slanar bic an Nor'be_

"What's she singing?" Said Wedge.

"It's in Mandalorian." Said Sabine.

"It probably means 'I wash my socks in sand.'" Said Wedge.

M0g rolled over to Tuur'ika and retrieved the dirty paper towels.

"Now you come help me." Said Tuur'ika.

M0g gurgled and beeped.

"What's that? Harlow is on the way to relieve me of my shift? Thanks for letting me know." Said Tuur'ika as she stood up and went to wash her hands, still humming the tune.

"Harlow just arrived to relieve you." Said Lister.

"I sure have my work cut out for me while I'm confined to quarters." Said Tuur'ika as she turned and left, her footfalls echoing behind her.

"Did you understand what she was singing?" Said Wedge.

"Let me think...'each step I take, let it burn, let it ache, leads me further away from the past. I will never change my mind and I will leave it all behind.'" Said Sabine. "I guess she has come to understand that she must amend her ways or die young." Said Said Sabine. She turned on her side and opened the book. She gasped when she saw the name signed in the bookplate:

IGNAZ OCHSNER

"Confirmed." Said Sabine.

\--  
"Don't mind if I ask but how did you get the nickname Hobbie?" Said Barton as she applied bacta to Hobbie's surgical incision.

"I don't even remember. I just remember I never liked the name Derek and Hobbie stuck." Said Hobbie.

"Well, you can always be glad you weren't named Hephzibah. Then the schoolyard bullies wouldn't have just gone 'so your parents gave you a girly name to toughen you up', it would have been 'so your parents gave you a _frumpy_ girly name to toughen you up." Said Barton.

"That's extreme." Said Hobbie.

"But the only thing worse than being a boy named Hephzibah is being a girl named Hephzibah. Would you not say, as someone else who doesn't like their given name, that when you don't like your name, you have to work harder to prove yourself to others?" Said Barton as she took out a tweezers.

"No." Grumbled Hobbie.

"I found that going through life with a name I hated and a plain face, I had to work twice as hard to prove myself." Barton began carefully undoing the first knot in the incision. "I still feel I do, even though I got a new name long ago."

"You legally changed it?" Said Hobbie.

"No, I never went to the deed poll, I just started going by Barty, now everyone calls me Barty. The only people who call me Hephzibah are my parents and Captain Galvez, and my siblings and cousins call me Zibby or Ziba. Sometimes I wonder if Dr. Ochsner never has to work hard to prove anything to anyone is because she has a pretty name and a pretty face." Said Barton as she finished untying the knot and removed it and set it in a metal tray.

"You're probably quite buxom under all that broadcloth." Said Hobbie.

Barton dropped the tweezers into the tray and her eyes froze. "You have no right to harass me like that. It doesn't matter if I saved your life, you have no right to make those sorts of comments about my body." Said Barton.

"I take it back." Muttered Hobbie.

"Barton, you can't be removing stitches with an inferior tweezers." Said Tuur'ika as she unzipped her surgical instrument case with the Rebel insignia embroidered on the front, selected a tweezers, and handed them to Barton. "You handled that one better than I could have."

"Thank you." Said Barton as she took the tweezers from Tuur'ika. "But then you humor patients who give you the same treatment and because you're pretty you get it far more often than I do. It's almost as if you enjoy it." Said Barton as she began untying the second stitch.

"I know I shoudn't, but I still wonder, why should I not humor them? There's nothing beneath these chest plates but wind and void and maybe a blackened heart in there somewhere. Makes me feel a little less empty inside." Said Tuur'ika as she picked up a container of syringes and handed one of them to Barton. "This should help you with the postoperative pain." She said to Hobbie as she began heading down the isles of beds.

"Her poking fun at how cruel she is gets old fast." Said Hobbie as Barton continued undoing the stitch.

"But she is cruel. Very cruel. She was going to remove your spleen without putting you under." Said Barton.

"That's what everyone says but I don't believe it." Said Hobbie.

"No, she was going to and I was not allowing it." Said Barton.

"Is gaslighting a common practice on the Armageddon?" Said Hobbie.

"No, it's not a common practice, and even if it was, we'd have no reason to." Said Barton, removing another stitch.

"I can't imagine any sane person performing surgery without anesthesia, even if stocks were diminished." Said Hobbie.

"Dr. Ochsner is a very cruel woman. She takes every opportunity to inflict pain on anyone she can and has no qualms about it. I'll never forget how when I first got my assignment here how she'd tell me 'being nice doesn't save lives.'" Said Barton.

"What are you talking about? Dr. Ochsner is insincere but she's not cruel. If she were cruel I would know." Said Hobbie.

"It's a good thing I put you under when I removed your spleen, but I do wish you could have been awake to see her getting her spleen removed in front of the entire sickbay." Said Barton.

"What?" Said Hobbie.

"Spleen can also mean 'animosity.'" Said Barton as she finished removing the final stitch and placed it in the metal tray.

"You can keep talking." Said Tuur'ika as she sat down beside Gage's bed. "I'm going to be trying out a new prototype."

"I know a lot more about flying spacecraft than I did before Wedge arrived. I could probably even fly if I set my mind to it." Said Gage.

"I wouldn't be flying anything if I were you, if you even regain the cognitive functioning. You first need to be able to walk more than ten paces without having another seizure." Said Tuur'ika as she unwound Gage's bandages.

"But I'm down to three seizures per day." Said Gage.

"We need to get you down to zero seizures per day." Said Tuur'ika. She gripped his head, pushed strands of thick dark brown hair out of the way, took out the latest prototype and threaded some wires through Gage's exit wound.

"We also need to improve your short term memory, spacial awareness, the dexterity in your left hand, the visual acuity in your right eye, maybe do something about that left ear of yours..." said Tuur'ika as she threaded components through Gage's exit wound.

"I thought the particle beam went through part of my left cochlea." Said Gage.

"It did go through part of your left cochlea, leaving you deaf in one ear." Said Tuur'ika.

"But the hearing in my right ear has improved exponentially." Said Gage.

"As to be expected. When you lose hearing in one ear, the other ear compensates." Said Tuur'ika.

"That's even possible?" Said Wedge.

"It most certainly is, but around here, he's going to need some sort of hearing in both ears. Especially if you're switching to engineering. Right, Gage?" Said Tuur'ika.

"What'a that?" Said Gage.

Tuur'ika pulled out a component. "M0g! I need a hand here!"

M0g squeaked and gurgled over.

"Hold out your arms and monitor Gage's eye activity." Said Tuur'ika.

M0g gurgled and held out some arm attachments.

"You're doing good. Now can you wiggle your toes on your left foot?" Said Tuur'ika as she added another component.

M0g gurgled and squeaked. "My arms are getting tired!" It probably said.

"Your arms can't get tired. Your arms don't have muscles and sinews and ligaments and tendons to get tired." Said Tuur'ika.

"But my arms are tired!" Whined M0g in a gurgle.

"You are half astromech droid, half Separatist battle droid, and half menace to society!" Said Tuur'ika.

"You can't have three halves." M0g beeped.

"Well you are three halves anyway." Said Tuur'ika.

M0g gurgled and squeaked. It probably meant "you'd better be glad I don't gain self awareness and turn on you."

Barton then stood by Gage's bed. Her face was solemn.

"Dr. Ochsner, there has been a casualty on bed 28." Said Barton.

Tuur'ika put down her tweezers and hastily wrapped Gage's head.

"I need you to confirm cause of death and sign the death certificate." Said Barton.

"Keep that in there and see how it feels." Tuur'ika and Barton headed over to bed 28 to find the lifeless form on it.

"She'd been languishing for awhile." Said Barton as Tuur'ika ran the tests to confirm death.

"The treatment I would have given her would have saved her but left her paralyzed on her left side, but she didn't want to live like that." Said Tuur'ika. "It took all my willpower not to treat her anyway."

Tuur'ika signed the death certificate. "I'll tell Galvez to prepare a letter to the next of kin. Lister!"

"Yes?" Said Lister.

Barton and Tuur'ika draped a sheet over her lifeless form.

"Take this one to the morgue." Said Tuur'ika.

"Affirmative." Said Lister as he pushed her away.

"That hurt me more than it hurt her." Said Tuur'ika.

Barton put an arm around Tuur'ika's shoulders, the cold beskar seeming to burn the flesh on her bare arm. "I know how hard losing a patient is for you, but you did the right thing." Said Barton.

\--  
"I don't like the sound the engine is making." Said Hera as she gripped the helm of the Ghost.

"I can't find anything wrong with it." Said Zeb.

"I can't find anything wrong with it either but it sure has been a tempermental creature lately." Said Hera.

"Maybe Sabine would know." Grumbled Ezra.

"Maybe, but then she might just put an explosive in there and call it a day after all the frustration of trying to figure it out and finding nothing." Said Hera.

"I really hope she's all right." Said Ezra.

"I'm sure she's fine. She's quite capable of taking care of herself." Said Hera.

"I know she is, but I can't imagine..."

"You can't imagine life without her?" Said Hera.

"Yeah." Said Ezra.

"Well, you can keep yourself busy to keep your mind off her. How about you replace the filter in the non-drinkable water tank?" Said Hera.

"All right." Said Ezra. He got up and left.

"Someone is hailing us." Said Hera as she opened up the frequency.

"Specter 2." Said Hera.

"Armageddon 29, Ensign Aguirre speaking. We have three of your crew members."

"If the Armageddon isn't at it again!" Said Hera.

"We heard their distress signal and no sooner said than done we were on our way." Said Aguirre.

"Thank you so much. Ezra has been hysterical since we started getting subspace silence from Sabine. And here you are at it, just as you did last time. Thank you." Said Hera.

"We did hear the distress signal and were on our way, only this time we already happened to be in orbit and didn't need to dodge asteroids or Imperial fire." Said Aguirre.

"So, how are they doing, are they all right?" Said Hera.

"They were in the sickbay for some rather serious injuries, but our chief medical officer just cleared them for discharge." Said Aguirre.

"Ugh. Not the Ochsner woman." Muttered Kanan to himself.

"Well, we need to get them back to you somehow. Should we prepare coordinates for a rendezvous point?" Said Aguirre.

"Yes. That would be great. And could you please bring over Galvez so I can offer him my personal thanks?" Said Hera.

"One moment. Standby." Said Aguirre.

Aguirre swiveled and turned to Galvez.

"Captain Syndulla wants to invite you aboard the Ghost so she can offer you her personal thanks." Said Aguirre.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to pass on this one. I don't want Syndulla to find out what a fraud I am." Said Galvez.

"Oh, come on. You know you appreciate being appreciated." Said Aguirre.

"Ask for coordinates to their rendezvous point and I'll arrange a boarding party once we arrive." Said Galvez.

Hera and Aguirre exchanged coordinates.

"Standby we're on our way. Armageddon out." Said Aguirre.

"Sabine is all right!" Said Ezra.

"Don't count on it. Even if she's all right, she's probably traumatized." Said Kanan.

"I'm going to get Sabine's room ready." Said Ezra.

"That'a great, but you need to tidy up the rest of the Ghost, THEN you can prepare Sabine's room." Said Hera.

"Ok." Said Ezra. He got up and turn to leave.

"I'm sure you'll get everything ready just fine, but when the Armageddon arrives, PLEASE make sure you're wearing something presentable.' Said Hera.

"All right." Ezra turned and left.

"Who did she rip open and sew up this time?" Grumbled Kanan.

"Does it matter? They're safe and they've recovered." Said Hera.

"Nobody should be subjected to that Mandalorian who calls herself a doctor who the Armageddon is forced to call their chief medical officer." Said Kanan.

"First of all, nobody is forced to call anyone their chief anything. She is chief medical officer for a reason, and that reason is that she is good at what she does." Said Hera.

"But that...entire spectrum visor she fitted me with. It was the longest two weeks of my life." Said Kanan.

"She saved your life." Said Hera.

"So I can't be as mad at her as I like." Said Kanan.

"Words do it no justice, everything being too incomprehensibly bright, the pain, and yet I know it could have restored my sight to having it be better than it was before. It just needed the missing ingredient." Said Kanan.

"We were not going to Ratljóst. It's too hard to get to and I don't think the Steward of Ratljóst would be too keen on outsiders plundering his planet for natural resources." Said Hera.

"I'm still a failed experiment." Said Kanan.

"But now you know that it was only temporary, that it is possible for her to get it right, and now that visor she fitted you with is safe on the bottom of the seabed somewhere on Aldaraan, where it can't hurt you. You may be a failed experiment, but you'll always be my favorite failed experiment." Said Hera as she raised Kanan's visor and kissed his forehead.

\--  
Tuur'ika stood behind Sabine' Wedge, and Hobbie's beds.

"I have some good news." Said Tuur'ika. 

Sabine, Wedge, Hobbie, and Gage all turned towards Tuur'ika.

"You have been cleared for discharge." Said Tuur'ika.

Sabine, Wedge, Hobbie, and Gage all started to get up.

"No, not you, Gage. You've come a long way but you still have a long way to go." Said Tuur'ika.

"Darn! I'm going to get lonely without them." Said Gage.

"Well, you're not going anywhere yet. I told Galvez you were cleared for discharge, we hailed the Ghost, and we've arranged a rendezvous point so we can return you." Said Tuur'ika.

"Y'know, Wedge, I really think you're destined for something great. I don't know what, but I really think you're going to shape history." Said Gage.

"I don't know. I'm in this for a reason, but I'll have to wait and see." Said Wedge.

"No really, I think you're destined to be a pilot among pilots. I'm always going to be the poor fool who got a chunk of his brain blown out under friendly fire and whose survival of it made him too dumb to live." Said Gage.

"Don't knock your accident. It's made you into a walking talking curiosity. If you can't do artillery anymore and you change your mind about engineering, you could always join a traveling sideshow." Said Wedge.

"If our lines ever cross again in the future, maybe we could meet for a caff and compare notes." Said Gage. His eyes rolled back into his head.

"Gage, that's really creepy." Gage's eyes remained rolled back. "Gage, that's not funny. Cut it out!" Said Wedge.

Gage had another seizure, flopping and twitching violently.

"Code nine!" Barton shouted as she darted over and turned Gage's head to the side and several other medical crew members rushed over to Gage's aid, well-versed in the drill. Once they got Gage's seizure under control and it passed, they rolled him over into the recovery position and he fell asleep.

"Is the only time Gage shuts up after he has a seizure?" Hobbie asked Barton.

Her expression suggested she was about to give a long answer, but simply said "yes."

"That's when I like him best." Said Hobbie.

"He wasn't always a chatterbox. Prior to his accident he was very reserved and didn't talk much at all." Said Barton.

"If I had been in Gage's accident I would have hoped to have died on contact. Is there a reason he didn't die on contact? Living the way he does seems like a fate worse than death and he's always so perky about it." Said Hobbie.

"We're all wondering why he didn't die on impact. Even Dr. Ochsner doesn't know, but I have to admire his will to be." Said Barton.

"I don't." Said Hobbie.

"You sure have a negative outlook on life." Said Barton.

"You're the one who spends sixteen hours a day up to your elbows in blood and guts and you're always perky." Said Hobbie.

"There's nothing I would rather do. I like seeing patients no longer miserable." Said Barton.

"Then you should have been an executioner." Said Hobbie.

Barton put her hands over her mouth and gasped. "I didn't mean for it to come out like that, but I like to see people get well. Being able to save peoples' lives gives me gratification." Said Barton.

"What about when someone dies? What about when there's nothing you can do?" Grumbled Hobbie.

"Deaths are inevitable and sometimes there's nothing you can do, but is that any question to ask me when I pulled you back from the brink of death?" Said Barton.

"I've been in a lot of accidents. I've been rescued lots of times. When you're accident prone like me it makes other peoples' heroism go down in value." Said Hobbie.

"I don't know if you remember, but when you came in here, in shock, in agony, and bleeding to death, how frightened you were. I would've sooner gotten my skull crushed than allow Dr. Ochsner to to cut you open and remove your spleen while awake because she had a perceived shortage of anesthetics. I know how to perform surgeries because I had an apprenticeship with a surgeon, but never took my final exam battery. I do not have surgical clearance, but I removed your spleen anyway. I could have gotten my commission retracted, I could have been court martialed, and, if the surgery had not gone well and you had died, I could have been subject to the death penalty. I put everything, and I do mean everything, on the line for you." Said Barton.

Hobbie did not look Barton in the eye.

"Think about it. Even though there's nothing I would rather be than a nurse, onboard this ship, I will admit that sometimes I do begin to feel a bit trapped. When we're out in space for months, I sometimes might not pass a porthole for days or even weeks, the only real place with access to the outside world is the flight deck and in order to go there you need massive amounts of clearance that I don't have and never will. You...you get to fly." Said Barton.

"Hm." Said Hobbie.

"And while I'm not asking to be appreciated, I enabled you to fly another day." Said Barton.

Hobbie got out of bed and took his spleen with him.

"Get out there and touch the horizon for me." Said Barton.

Tuur'ika returned to the sickbay carrying a box with a black sleeve hanging out of it.

"These are your belongings you had with you when you arrived. Said Tuur'ika as she set it down on the counter. "And while I was confined to quarters, I washed and mended the Imperial flight suits you were wearing when you arrived."

Sabine got out of bed and inspected hers.

"I can't even tell where you mended." Said Sabine.

"I was cross-eyed by the time I was done, but every stitch has to be just so." Said Tuur'ika.

"Dr. Ochsner, I really need to thank you. Not only you, but all of you. You not only rescued us, but you provided us with medical care, fed us, gave us spare uniforms to wear, entertained us...you didn't just rescue us, you took us in as if we were your own." Said Sabine.

"Thank you, Sabine, I am very humbled to hear that." Said Tuur'ika.

"Would it be possible for me to thank Galvez personally?" Said Sabine.

"We'll certainly arrange for that. Possibly when we discharge you to the Ghost, I'm sure your captain would arrange for a boarding party so she can offer her thanks to Galvez. You can thank him then." Said Tuur'ika.

"You're always there for others in your hour of need, what do you do on the Armageddon when you're in your hour of need?" Said Sabine.

"From personal experience, we've always gotten by, but your question is one that Galvez always has weighing on his conscience." Said Tuur'ika. She looked off into the distance.

"Is everyone ready to go?"

Wedge got out of bed and looked down on Gage's sleeping form.

"Maybe our paths will cross again." Said Wedge.

"Let's not keep them waiting at the docking bay." Said Tuur'ika as Sabine, Wedge, and Hobbie followed her out of the sickbay.

"I guess that leaves me in charge." Said Barton as she began to sort out test tubes for blood drawing. The sickbay seemed so much quieter without Tuur'ika.

"Attention Armageddon crew members, this is your captain speaking. Will our surgeon's mate please report to docking bay one." Galvez announced over the PA.

Barton stuck her fingers in her ears to see if something was blocking them.

"My ears must be playing tricks on me." Said Barton as she washed her hands.

"Attention Armageddon crew members. This is your captain speaking. Will our surgeon's mate please report to docking bay one immediately." Repeated Galvez over the PA.

"He wants you to be a member of the boarding party." Said Lister.

"But I'm-"

"I'll hold up the fort." Said Lister.

Barton was waiting in the docking bay with Tredd, Hartsfield, and Agurre. Sabine, Wedge, Hobbie, Tuur'ika, and Sabine had already boarded the Ghost.

"I've never been a member of a boarding party. What do I do?" Said Barton.

"Act strictly according to protocol and everything should go according to plan." Said Tredd.

"And if anyone comes out dressed for frivolities, pretend to not be amused." Said Hartsfield.

"Frivolities? Said Barton.

"You'll see." Said Hartsfield.

Tredd, Hartsfield, Aguirre, and Barton then boarded the Ghost.

"Sabine!" Exclaimed Ezra as soon as she came on board and hugged her tightly. "Don't scare me like that."

"I missed you so much, Ezra." Said Sabine. "Could you please take me to my room? I'm so tired."

Ezra helped Sabine to her room while Galvez, Tredd, Hartsfield, Aguirre, Tuur'ika, and Barton headed up to the bridge, where Hera was waiting.

"Thank you again!" Hera practically squealed as they assembled.

"Captain Syndulla, you may remember my first officer, my chief engineer, my communications officer, and my chief medical officer, but I would also like to introduce you to Heph-I mean Barty Barton, my surgeon's mate." Said Galvez. As always, we are pleased to have been of assistance."

Tredd, Hartsfield, Aguirre, Tuur'ika, and Barton stood at attention, saluted, and then stood at ease.

"You sure have a knack for coming to our aid." Said Hera.

Just then, the Ghost's engine made that noise again.

"That is a rather crepitant noise and cause for great concern." Observed Tredd.

"We can't figure out what's making that noise and we've tried everything." Said Hera.

"Is it ok if I take a look at it?" Said Hartsfield.

"By all means." Said Hera and handed him a toolkit.

Hartsfield went down to the engine room, and after some grumbling and clanking, returned to the bridge with a fistful of frayed wires.

"It was the piezoelectricity-induced room temperature superconductor." Said Hartsfield.

"I didn't even know that existed." Said Hera.

"The metallic wiring had frayed against the metallic coating of the insulator core and when the pulse current source generated electromagnetic energy in the gas-filled cavities, that was what was making the creaking sound." Said Hartsfield.

"If your chief engineer goes missing don't look at me." Said Hera.

"As much as I would like to say you can borrow him any time you please, I'm afraid he's not expendable." Said Galvez.

"You're safe, Hera. My engineers are all so competent they wouldn't even know I was missing." Said Hartsfield.

"He really puts the arm in Armageddon." Said Tuur'ika.

"No, you put the arm in Armageddon." Said Hartsfield.

"No, YOU put the arm in Armageddon." Said Tuur'ika.

"No, YOU put the arm in Armageddon!" Said Hartsfield.

"They could go on like this for hours." Said Galvez.

"You literally put your arm in the hyperdrive's gravitational wave generator." Said Tuur'ika.

"You put my arm back together." Said Hartsfield.

"When I was going to tell you that you put the arm in Armageddon, I did not mean it as a compliment." Said Tuur'ika.

"I beat you to it, and I did mean it as a compliment, even if there wasn't a whole lot you could do about my left ring finger." Hartsfield held up a four-fingered hand. "I would still rather have an organic limb with a missing ring finger than a prosthetic arm with five fingers." Said Hartsfield.

"Who did you rip open and sew up this time?" Said Kanan, ill will in his voice audible.

"Actually, I didn't do a lot of ripping open and sewing up this time. That's where Barton stole the show. She performs a mean emergency splenectomy." Said Tuur'ika.

"I didn't know you had it in you." Said Kanan.

"Well, on my home planet, becoming a surgeon goes via apprenticeship, and I never got to take my final exams. Galvez is finding a center where I can take my final exam battery. I might not be a doctor, but I can perform surgery as well as any. Once my finals are submitted to our commissioner I get clearance to perform surgeries, and I get master/mistress tagged onto my name." Said Barton.

"If anything, she's the one who should have been a doctor. She has all the qualities of a good medical professional, and she doesn't have a cruel bone in her body. As for me, I was bred to be a doctor, but I think I may be unfit. I have a true gift: the sickest of minds." Said Tuur'ika.

"I thought it would be a cold day on Mustafar before you admitted that." Said Kanan.

"By your leave." Tuur'ika turned and exited.

Ezra helped Sabine lay back on her bed.

"You look really tired." Said Ezra.

"Being in the Armageddon's sickbay will do that to you." Said Sabine.

"First it was Rex, Kanan, and Zeb who ended up there, now it's Wedge, Hobbie, and you...I'm starting to feel a bit left out." Said Ezra.

"Don't be. It's a fifty bed open ward with very little privacy." Said Sabine.

"How bad could it be?" Said Ezra.

"Well, the best part about the Armageddon's sickbay is, there's never a dull moment. The worst part is, there's never a dull moment." Said Sabine. She sunk back further into her pillow.

"Never a dull moment?" Said Ezra.

"Always someone talking, footsteps, coughing, screaming, arguing, the nonstop chatter of a guy who got a particle beam through his skull and lived-"

"Wait, what, how could he survived that? Said Ezra.

"Your guess is as good as anyone's. He talked incessantly, and when he wasn't talking, he was having seizures. The lights were bright, Barton and Dr. Ochsner got into a big fight about Hobbie's spleen and she had to call in Galvez and Galvez humbled Dr. Ochsner in front of the entire sickbay and we all started cheering and clapping." Said Sabine.

"No shortage of free, live entertainment." Said Ezra.

"Mind you, when we went down, I hit my head pretty hard. I just wanted some peace and quiet, but even with an eye shade and earplugs, I could still hear everything everyone was saying and doing, and I was wearing a noninvasive intracranial pressure monitor that weighed almost as much as I do. They were so kind to us, so I don't want to take them for granted, but I didn't get a wink of rest." Said Sabine.

Ezra took her hand in his.

"Can you stay with me?" Said Sabine.

"Always." Said Ezra.

"May I come in?" Said Tuur'ika as she knocked on the doorframe. "I'm not intruding on any love scenes, am I?

"No, you can come in." Said Ezra.

Tuur'ika entered and put a bottle of painkillers on Sabine's nightstand. "I saved the best for last."

"But you already served us so well." Said Sabine.

"I've been organizing some changes in my life, and this is a good place to start." Said Tuur'ika.

"I can see." Said Sabine. "Thank you."

The murals on the walls caught Tuur'ika's attention. "Did you draw these?" Said Tuur'ika.

"I did." Said Sabine.

"They're beautiful." Said Tuur'ika. "You're a really good artist."

"Takes one to know one." Said Sabine.

"But I'm not a visual artist, I'm a seamstress." Said Tuur'ika.

"Still an art form. The first time you were here I thought those mythosaurs you have embroidered on your kama were silkscreened on." Said Sabine.

"My father always scorned my love of sewing and people who sew in general, but he always complimented me on the things I would sew, both for myself and others. I once sewed a coat from the pelt of a beast I slew myself and he would always tell me I was the most beautiful girl in the universe whenever I would wear it. But when one day I explained that sewing and surgery are really not that different, and require similar skills and steady hands, that shut him up and he respected it ever since." Said Tuur'ika.

"Sound familiar?" Said Sabine.

"Major difference is, fabrics don't scream when you cut them open and sew them up." Said Tuur'ika.

"That they don't." Said Ezra.

"If I hadn't been born a Mandalorian and an Ochsner, I would have been a seamstress." Said Tuur'ika.

"I could see that, but why wouldn't you have wanted to be a Mandalorian?" Said Sabine.

"I really fail at being a Mandalorian. I don't like to fight, I don't like jetpacks, and I don't like wearing a helmet." Said Tuur'ika.

"You don't? I thought that was mandatory." Said Ezra.

"I just want to sew and be left alone." Said Tuur'ika.

"You can't be the only one." Said Sabine.

"How did you become so good at picking up distress signals? Said Hera.

"I know which channels and frequencies to open." Said Aguirre.

"I see a promotion in your future." Said Hera.

"But I just got started." Said Aguirre.

"Galvez, I never asked where you come from or even if you're for real, but you and your crew are really a cut above the rest." Said Hera.

"I do believe our chief medical officer has found her new assignment." Said Tredd.

"You can keep her." Said Galvez.

"I can?" Said Hera.

"No we're not." Said Kanan.

"Then you could be chief medical officer, Barton." Said Galvez.

"I...I...that would be too great a responsibility. I could never." Said Barton.

"We'd best be going, even though I would like to stay." Said Galvez.

"I would like you to stay too, but the Armageddon is a lot bigger than the Ghost." Said Hera.

"I can't believe you've given us not just a first but a second opportunity to get a taste of the Armageddon." Said Hera.

"You getting a taste of the Armageddon? More like us getting a taste of the Ghost." Said Galvez. "And I do believe we'll never be the same thereafter."

"We're a bad influence." Said Hera with a note of mischief in her voice.

"We'll see how things play from hereon out." Said Galvez. He turned to leave. "We must now bid you farewell."

"I'll prepare the airlocks." Said Hartsfield.

"I will collect Ochsner." Said Tredd.

"I might not be the only one, but I'm the only one to admit it openly." Said Tuur'ika.

"But then, it does take all sorts, in all societies." Said Sabine.

"It takes rare sort to put up with the sort that is me." Said Tuur'ika.

"Don't mind if I ask, but why did your parents name you after a unit of time measurement?" Said Sabine.

Tredd appeared halfway behind the doorway.

"Dr. Ochsner, I hope you take great delight in your new assignment as chief medical officer of the Ghost. It has been pleasant, agreeable, and satisfactory to have been acquainted with you." Tredd deadpanned.

"I guess that means I must be going." Tuur'ika turned and stood up. "Just as the Ghost is your home, the Armageddon is my home, and I'll do anything to keep it."

"Stay on your best behavior and do what you do best." Said Sabine. She closed her eyes.

"Take good care of each other." Said Tuur'ika as she joined the rest of the boarding party to return to the Armageddon.

"Thank you again, Galvez." Said Hera.

"Hera, the entire time I have been aboard the Ghost, you have positively been inundating me with thanks. Need I tell you again it was of no trouble to me?" Said Galvez.

"But now you've rescued us not once but twice. I owe you so much. If you or any member of your crew needs help I will do for you what you have done for me." Said Hera.

"I appreciate that you feel so indebted to me, but you most certainly don't need to. I say you pay it forward. If you ever receive a distress signal, answer it and don't let anyone or anything stop you." Said Galvez.

"That goes without saying. Of course I would answer a distress signal and remember you. But if you or any member of your crew is in peril, I will drop whatever I'm doing and come and rescue you, just as you have for me." Said Hera.

"Hera, I appreciate that you feel so indebted to me, and I have no shadow of a doubt that you would, but I certainly hope you never need to." Said Galvez.

"I hope you never need to either, but should the hour come, you can count on me to drop whatever I'm doing, divert my course, and be the first one on the scene to come rescue you." Said Hera.

Galvez and Hera both hoped the hour would never come, but deep down, they knew....


	4. Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sabine and Rex reminisce about their stints in the sickbay of the Armageddon, and are in for a surprise.

"Hopefully we won't be intercepted on our way to Lothal." Said Sabine as she made the jump to hyperspace.

"I'm not taking my eyes off the radar." Said Rex.

Sabine shifted a lever and accidently knocked over the empty cup between the pilot and copilot's seats, she caught it before it rolled over. She suddenly remembered it had been the one Tuur'ika had let her keep.

"Since we're stuck with each other for the next five hours, we may as well discuss our stints in the sickbay of the Armageddon." Said Sabine.

"When did you wind up there?" Said Rex.

"It was actually not long after you did." Said Sabine.

"And you never told me?" Said Rex.

"I thought I did." Said Sabine.

"Well, if you did, I certainly don't remember." Said Rex.

"How did you wind up there?" Said Rex.

"I was on a mission with Wedge and Hobbie. It didn't go quite as planned and we went down on a cold, rocky planet. I had hit my head really hard, Wedge had a blood clot, and Hobbie ruptured his spleen. They thought we were going to die there, but even though I felt like my head had been hit with a giant hammer, i got out a transmitter and sent out a distress signal. Whoever received it first deferred it to the Armageddon." Said Sabine.

"Who acknowledged it?" Said Rex.

"Aguirre answered it. She remembered me and started giggling because she remembered how Ezra and me were dressed when we met them, but when I told them of our situation, she said 'standby, we're on our way. Armageddon out.'" Said Sabine.

"Aguirre's high-pitched, girlish voice saying 'standby, we're on our way. Armgeddon out' is the most wonderful sound." Said Rex.

"They sent down a shuttle with medical staff. Barton and the other medic whose name I don't remember really made sure I couldn't move when they got me onto the stretcher." Said Sabine.

"So you had Barton. She's a real class act." Said Rex.

"She was reassuring to me the whole time and was very gentle but competent." Said Sabine.

"Sounds about right." Said Rex. "Was Dr. Ochsner on the scene?

"She was tending to Wedge, and he was shamelessly flirting with her the whole time." Said Sabine.

"How'd she take to it?" Said Rex.

"She was gunning him down the whole time, but I think she was enjoying it. For all she is or isn't, she is very witty." Said Sabine.

"She is full of wit and venom." Said Rex.

"The two medics who were tending Hobbie said he just had a bruised rib or something, but he was in agony so I knew something was off. Once we returned to the Armageddon, they took us to the sickbay and assigned us to beds." Said Sabine.

"Do you remember which bed you had?" Said Rex.

"I was in bed 44." Said Sabine.

"I was also in bed 44!" Said Rex.

"Wedge was in bed 45, and Hobbie was in bed 47." Said Sabine.

"Kanan was in bed 45 and Zeb was in bed 28." Said Rex. "But who would have thought we both would have ended up bed 44."

"Who would have thought indeed." Said Sabine.

"Maybe bed 44 is reserved for whoever sends out the distress signal." Said Rex.

"A wise man did once say 'coincidence is the Maker's way of staying anonymous." Said Sabine.

"After we got situated, they fixed the cut on my scalp and fitted me with this noninvasive intracranial pressure monitor that weighed at least as much as I did, or at least it felt like that at the time. My head was still splitting and I couldn't turn my head and was forced to do nothing but stare at the light fixtures, and listen to Dr. Ochsner tending to Wedge, even though I would have rather not have." Said Sabine.

"This must've been juicy." Said Rex.

"I don't know exactly what happened, but from what I could hear, she was removing a blood clot and even though she kept on reminding him how painful it was supposed to be, he seemed to be enjoying it." Said Sabine.

"Different strokes for different folks." Said Rex.

"When he finally admitted to her that he thought she was attractive, she said 'it's all a glamor. I weigh three-hundred pounds, I've cleared up most of my acne, and people touch the hump on my back for good luck." Said Sabine.

"Must've been talking about her soul." Said Rex.

"Then Gage helped him out and gave the scoop on all the intrigue that goes on on the Armageddon." Said Sabine.

"The one who got a particle beam through his skull and lost a portion of his brain? I'm amazed he lasted that long." Said Rex.

"Yes, that Gage." Said Sabine.

"When we were there all he did was babble and have seizures." Said Rex.

"He did a lot of babbling, but he had been living in the sickbay so he knew all about the Armageddon's intrigue and was quite cohesive on explaining the power dynamic of the sickbay. It turns out that during the Mandalorian civil war, she had been stabbed in the lower abdomen and had to have her uterus and six centimeters of small intestine removed without anesthesia." Said Sabine.

"That explains a lot." Said Rex.

"Right as he's telling all about how nasty but well-meaning Dr. Ochsner is and how she's mean to all the medical crew members, but was especially mean to Barton, and yet somehow it never broke Barton's spirit, and now, Barton was starting to stand up to her." Said Sabine.

"She was taking my inspiration." Said Rex.

"What?" Said Sabine.

"When she was tending me, she was the only one there who was genuinely compassionate towards us patients. I mean they all cared, but all the other medical crew members had all the warmth of a spaceport security agent." Said Rex. "I saw a lot of potential in Barton. She remained resolutely kind in the face of Dr. Ochsner's cruelty. When she snuck me some painkillers, I told her to stand up to Dr. Ochsner. Someone needed to, and it wasn't going to be Lister." Said Rex.

"Well, turns out Hobbie had been bleeding to death from a ruptured spleen, and Barton removed his spleen, even though she wasn't a doctor." Said Sabine.

"How did it go?" Said Rex.

"It was a huge success. He was sleeping like a baby when Barton transferred him to the bed and began her rounds as usual. Then, when Dr. Ochsner found out, she blew her stacks. She lectured Barton about how she had no surgical clearance and could get her commission retracted and court martialed, and how she shouldn't have anesthetized him because supplies were low. She then called her a sadist." Said Sabine.

"First time?" Said Rex.

"Then she said explained how the things she does in the sickbay were just like Empire's short-lived but brutal sentient being experimentation program. Turns out that Dr. Ochsner's father, Ignaz Ochsner, a well-known doctor in his own right, was executed by the Empire for not participating in the experimentation program. She then asked her 'are you no better than the people who killed your father?' And Dr. Ochsner couldn't think of an answer, so Barton lost her temper and shouted at her that the reason she removed his spleen despite all the risks was because 'even though you're no better than the people who killed her father, I most certainly am.'" Said Sabine.

"If only I could have been there to see it. How did Dr. Ochsner react?" Said Rex.

"She was infuriated! She left and returned with Galvez to hear them out." Said Sabine.

"Then what happened?" Said Rex.

"Galvez heard them out. He asked Barton all the questions, and she answered them all truthfully, and when he asked her to present an inventory, there was no shortage of painkillers or anaesthetics. She answered all the rest of Galvez's questions truthfully, and then he asked her to meet him in his quarters for tea so they could discuss getting surgical clearance." Said Sabine.

"During the Clone Wars she would have won a medal for that sort of bravery." Said Rex.

"And then Galvez ripped Dr. Ochsner a real new one. He admitted that he liked her and depended on her and owed her his life, but would not allow for her to do any experimentation without patient consent or withhold anesthetics or painkillers because of personally perceived shortages or other antics on his ship, and that she would suffer the consequences severely if she did. Last but not least, he told her that she needed to appreciate the surgeon's mate she's got, rather than the one she thinks she should have." Said Sabine.

Rex gave Sabine a thumbs up.

"And then we all erupted into thunderous applause. Dr. Ochsner was humbled in front of the entire sickbay." Said Sabine.

"If only I could have seen the look on her face." Said Rex.

"I couldn't see the look on her face, but I could imagine the horror and humiliation written all over her face in spite of trying to maintain her dignity." Said Sabine.

"Then what happened?" Said Rex.

"Hobbie was then awakened by the sounds of cheering and clapping. Between the anesthesia and the strangeness of the predicament, he was so confused he could scarcely believe any of what was going on or that he, or rather his spleen was the center of attention." Said Sabine.

"Can't blame him, even though he sure lucked out." Said Rex.

"I then conjectured that now that Barton had finally been treated like garbage for long enough and finally took a stand and kicked Dr. Ochsner where it hurts, she had figuratively removed Dr. Ochsner's spleen, considering that spleen is another word for hostility, maybe Dr. Ochsner would be kinder." Said Sabine.

"How'd that work out?" Said Rex.

"At first there wasn't much change, though the air of the sickbay was thick. Then a couple of command crew came to speak with her in her office. They talked for a few minutes, but Dr. Ochsner stayed inside a few minutes after they had left. She emerged from her office a different person." Said Sabine.

"So she did." Said Rex.

"She was definitely pretending to be nice, but she was being nice. She asked everyone if they were comfortable, got Wedge a change of clothes, she got me a glass of water when I asked...in fact that glass right there is the one she let me keep. I was reminded of it just now, if it seemed random. I told her the device on my head was uncomfortable and she said I wouldn't have to wear it much longer, and I shouldn't have to endure it. She even loaned me a book that once belonged to her father for me to read." Said Sabine.

"How'd that hold up?" Said Rex.

"Her shift ended and she was confined to quarters not long thereafter, but they took good care of us. When she returned, she was all competence and care, making sure we got all the right medications and treatments. She even complimented Barton for standing up for herself when Hobbie made an inappropriate comment to her, and loaned Barton her favorite pair of tweezers." Said Sabine.

"Quite a far cry from when she was treating me. When I was there my leg was crushed so badly it was as if flaps of meat were hanging off crushed bone." Said Rex.

"I remember you told us. Just hearing about it at the time made me sick to my stomach." Said Sabine.

"It was no picnic having her put it in the fixation device." Said Rex.

"Oh yeah, that behemoth of a contraption you had to wear." Said Sabine.

"And how I had to adjust the pins." Said Rex.

"Need to adjust the pins!" Said Sabine.

"At one point when they were adjusting the pins, Barton had already snuck me some painkillers and sedated me but Dr. Ochsner was still making my life miserable and Barton said to her to cut me some slack. Dr. Ochsner insisted pain builds character, and Barton said 'he fought in the Clone Wars. When he was your age he was building more character on a day off than most people build in their entire life.' Dr. Ochsner merely said 'he will never be my age and we're both older than him.' I still thought it was a good start." Said Rex.

"You must have set something in motion. For the rest of our stay, they treated us really well. Everyone, including Dr. Ochsner. They not only saved our lives, but gave us everything we needed and treated us the same as if we had been their crew." Said Sabine.

"Even though my stay there wasn't a walk in the park they were very generous with us." Said Rex.

"Then, when we were discharged to the Ghost, I was lying in my bunk and Ezra was keeping me company when Dr. Ochsner came in, put a bottle of painkillers on my nightstand, we were talking, and it turns out that if she hadn't been a Mandalorian or a doctor, she would have been a seamstress." Said Sabine.

"To her credit, garments can't feel pain." Said Rex.

"She told me and Ezra to take good care of each other before she left." Said Sabine.

"Do you still have the painkillers?" Said Rex.

"No, I used it up long ago." Said Sabine.

"I still have maybe three or four of the pills that Barton snuck me. Although I'm forever grateful that they saved our lives and that I didn't need my leg amputated, it was really Barton who made my stay there bearable. I never even got to say goodbye to her." Said Rex.

"And now with Ezra gone, how long had it been, a year and a half at least? And I have to take good of myself until Ezra comes back, wherever he is. If I ever were to cross paths again with Dr. Ochsner, I would hate to tell her I shirked my responsibility." Said Sabine.

"If I ever cross paths again with Barton, I would like to meet her for a cup of caff and talk with her for hours." Said Rex.

They arrived on Lothal and made their delivery in secret to Old Jho's cantina. They were just about to leave when they noticed what channel was playing on the holonet.

"It's the Armageddon! They're up for an award!" Said Sabine. Sabine and Rex took seats at the bar as if they were watching a sports game.

A fair representation of the Armageddon crew sat on benches at the back of the platform. Galvez and Tredd were there, Hartsfield was there, there were crew members from command, operations, weapons, and engineering, amongst whom Gage stood out with a metal plate on his forehead with wires coming out of it, along with several medical crew members in their blue utility dresses and tunics. Tuur'ika stood up front. Her armor was polished and her hair had grown significantly. She stood next to Mon Mothma, who was holding a medal on a ribbon in both hands.

"It is on this auspicious occasion on this auspicious day, that I would like to thank Dr. Tuur'ika Ochsner for going above and beyond the call of duty in her service to the Rebel Alliance for excellence in the management of casualties in wake of the storming the beaches at Cosuscant. Dr. Ochsner, it is my honor to present you with this medal of distinction." Said Mon Mothma. She handed the medal to Tuur'ika.

Tuur'ika turned forward and held the medal up front with both hands.

"I would like to thank you all, I am honored and humbled to be the recipient of this medal, Dad, I know that wherever you are, you are proud of me, but, I cannot accept." Said Tuur'ika.

Rex, Sabine, and the audience on the holonet let out a collective gasp.

"For it is my surgeon's mate, who I am eternally appreciative of, and whose gentleness, compassion, and kindness belie a fierce independence, unprecedented bravery, and a resolute fortitude that comes from deep within. For it is her initiative, cleverness, and ingenuity, not mine, that kept the sickbay from becoming any more of a charnel house than it is already capable of being. Barty Barton, please come forward. This medal rightfully belongs to you."

Barton came forward to Tuur'ika and she gave medal to Barton. She turned forward and held the medal in trembling hands.

"I...I don't know if I did anything to deserve this." Said Barton in a shaky voice.

"Yes you did!" Said Rex, as if she could hear through the holonet.

"I have never received an honor so high before. I would like to thank you all for bestowing this upon me, but most of all, I would like to thank a patient in particular I once had. He lay on bed 44 in terrible pain with his leg in a fixation device. He and I were very different people, but he saw in me qualities I didn't know I had. He inspired me to finally stand my ground to what I feared the most. I never would have gotten here without your giving me encouragement to make myself more than I am. If you are watching this, thank you." Said Barton.

The audience applauded as Barton attempted to pin the medal to her chest with shaking fingers. Obviously unable to, Tuur'ika pinned the medal to Barton's chest and they then returned to their seats.

Sabine and Rex leaned to the side and hugged each other tightly before letting go.

Rex leaned forward on the countertop and gazed at the holonet screen.

"That's my girl." Said Rex.


	5. Heartbreak Armageddon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day everybody hoped would never happen has finally arrived....

DURING THE BATTLE OF ENDOR

"Mommy! I'm picking up distress signals!" Said Jacen.

"Enter the code." Said Hera.

"This is commander Tredd, first officer of the Armageddon. If you are listening to this, the Armageddon will have self destructed. We collided head-on with an Imperial star destroyer and were issued orders to abandon ship. We are in escape pods near the wreck site, and are in imminent danger of being gunned down or taken captive. If you can hear this, please, stop whatever you are doing, divert your course, and come to our aid. Coordinates are as follows. This transmission will repeat in one minute."

"Enter the coordinates of the wreck site. We're coming in to save them." Said Hera.

"We can't at a time like this!" Said Jacen.

"The fact that when you receive a distress signal you are required to answer it goes without saying, but we owe the Armageddon a great deal. They have come to our aid not once, but twice. The second time, they rescued Sabine, Wedge, and Hobbie, she's going to have to tell you about that one when you're older, and the first time, they rescued Zeb, Rex, and your father. If not for them, you would have never been born." Said Hera.

Jacen stared at her with limpid eyes.

"Enter the coordinates to the wreck site, tell them 'your distress signal has been acknowledged. Standby, we're on our way, Specter 7 out." Said Hera, who then turned the Ghost around one hundred eighty degrees and made the jump to hyperspace.

The Imperial star destroyer ramming its bow headlong into the Armageddon's bow happened all too quickly. Everyone was flung back against the walls and bulkheads.

Tuur'ika and Barton happened to be facing each other in the rear of the sickbay when the Armageddon made impact. They were hurled forcefully against opposite sides of the doorframe of the lab when the light fixtures swung backwards, crushing Barton's skull between a light fixture and a bulkhead.

The light fixtures swung forward in a crash of broken glass and darkness as Barton and Tuur'ika fell to the ground on opposite sides of bed 49, chunks of Barton's brain and bone and and rivulets of blood spilling on the floor amid the darkness and broken glass. She would have fallen facedown if she had a face to fall down on.

Tuur'ika stood up and caught her breath and gazed at the scene of destruction in the half-light of the small red lights embedded in the ceiling. She suddenly became keenly aware of the deafening silence of the engines that had been shut off. Then came the dreaded announcement.

"ATTENTION ARMAGEDDON CREW MEMBERS. THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN SPEAKING. WE HAVE COLLIDED HEAD-ON WITH AN IMPERIAL STAR DESTROYER AND I AM HEREBY ISSUING THE ORDER TO ABANDON SHIP. THE ARMAGEDDON WILL SELF DESTRUCT IN FIFTEEN MINUTES. IT HAS BEEN GOOD TO KNOW YOU ALL, AND MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU." Galvez announced over the PA.

Sirens began to blare, red lights began to flash, and countdown timers appeared in all the clocks. Tuur'ika reached into the cupboard and grabbed her surgical instrument case and helmet.

"Always come back with your helmet or on it." She could almost hear her father's voice say when she began her course for the exit when she almost tripped over another dead body. Patients who were in any condition to get up did so, but the ones who were too ill or further injured were left behind. Tuur'ika made a concerted effort not to trip over any more dead bodies in the half-light as she and the rest of the sickbay made a beeline for the escape pods.

Only Galvez and Tredd remained on the bridge after the rest of of the command crew had vacated.

"Just what do you think you're doing here?" Said Galvez as he entered the self destruct code.

"I could never leave you. Not at a time like this." Said Tredd.

"A captain always goes down with the ship. I relieve you. Go. Go now. Take my seat in the escape pod." Said Galvez. Tredd turned to leave, but Galvez stopped him.

"But first, take this." Galvez took off his chain with the obsidian pendant on it, handed it to Tredd, and closed his fingers on it.

"Where you're going, you'll need this more than I will." Said Galvez.

Then Tredd left the bridge.

Tuur'ika pushed her way through the throngs of frightened crew members, through the halls, and down the flight of stairs to the main deck with the escape pod ports.

Crew from operations and engineering were ushering crew members to board the escape pods.

"Single file! Two by two! Follow the diagrams overhead to assume your boarding position." Gage indicated to the chaotic throngs of frightened crew members.

Tuur'ika was ushered to escape pod one. On the floor, there were circles corresponding to a seat in the escape pod. Overhead, there were screens with red lines with red dots lining up one on top of the other, like beads on an abacus. Tuur'ika stood on the last spot in the third row.

They had had escape pod drills before, but they were nothing to compare to the real thing. In drills, there wasn't the absence of the vibration of the engines. You couldn't feel the deck tilting underfoot. There was no frightened chatter. There was no threat of the vacuum of space rushing in. There was no smell of smoke. There were no dead bodies everywhere.

Last but not least, Barton had always been by her side.

They had made an excellent team over the years. They had worked together to make sure that the Armageddon's sickbay provided a superior standard of care and never settled for anything less than excellence. It wasn't always easy, but they always took pride in their work. Tuur'ika went to great lengths to make sure all their patients were treated well. Even after disasters and bloody battles, she had developed a genius for management of casualties. Even after they had stormed the beaches at Coruscant, when the sickbay had become overrun with casualties, full of men and women with horrific injuries and the cries of pain and the gasps of the dying and the babble of those in the throes of delirium, they had never run out of morphine. Barton had shown Tuur'ika that if you take saline solution and told the that patient you were injecting them with morphine, the patient would be numbed through their force of belief alone. In fact, any inert substance could be passed off as the real thing and it would be effective through the patient's power of mind. It wasn't foolproof, but it was sufficiently effective. If was for that, that Tuur'ika had given the medal she had been awarded to Barton.

There had been the time they had gone wading in a dire-leech infested pond in hopes of catching one of the fabled three-foot long, five-inch in diameter hirudiniforms, in attempt to milk it for its saliva, containing potent anticoagulants and analgesics. When one finally bit her and she yanked it off and saw the three-pronged bite mark on her bare calf, she finally appreciated her clan crest. The clan Ochsner leech bite crest signified all things medicinal but dangerous. They had named the leech Ignatia, kept it in a tank in the lab, and went to great lengths to keep Galvez from finding out. They only milked three test tubes of saliva from Ignatia. Galvez never did find out, and after just one day, the poor creature died in its sleep for a world that did not care.

There had been the time when they had been performing a surgery in a field hospital when stormtroopers opened fire on the field hospital. Tuur'ika had told Barton to finish the surgery, put on her helmet, picked up a gun that was almost as big as she was, and gunned down every single stormtrooper. Barton's surgery had been a success, and later that day Barton had done the same for her.

There had been the time they had been sent down to the surface of Hoth to deliver medicine and other vittles to Echo Base. Their snowspeeder had broken down, and had to resort to sled dogs. Tuur'ika didn't know the first thing about sled dog racing, but luckily for them, Barton had been a competitive sled dog racer on her home planet, and showed Tuur'ika all the commands and maneuvers. They went through ten kilometers of ice and snow to deliver the goods, and when they arrived at the base, the blizzard cleared, the clouds parted, and a beam of moonlight shone down on them, and everyone who had been waiting outside applauded their arrival.

Most of all, Barton had been a good friend.

A good friend who had joined the ranks of those she loved and held dear gone too soon, along with her father, her mother, her maternal grandmother, despite dying in battle at the age of one hundred and three, several childhood friends, her husband, and her child, with her brain and blood smashed on the bulkhead and spilled on the floor, broken beyond repair.

Ever since the fateful day she had been humbled in front of the entire sickbay, she had taken Galvez's words very seriously. "I will not be having you turning the sickbay into any more of a charnel house than it is already capable of being." Tuur'ika went to great lengths to prevent this, and never could have done it without Barton. And today, she had seen how fully capable of being a charnel house the sickbay was capable of being, at no fault of her own.

Maybe this is all just a bad dream, or a mistake, Tuur'ika tried to rationalize.

Then Tredd entered. He was wearing Galvez's pendant, and placing it under his shirt as he headed to the boarding position reserved for the highest ranking officer.

 _He's passed the helm to Tredd for good and all. There's no turning back now._ thought Tuur'ika.

The doors to the escape pod opened wide, and the crew members entered according to the diagram and took their seats.

"Now closing escape pod doors." Announced an automated voice. The escape pod doors closed and disembarked into space.

Tuur'ika pressed her face to the glass and stared at the scene of the Armageddon and the Imperial star destroyer crashed into each other, nose to nose, as they moved away from the wreck site. There was her home of the past how many years, dying right before her eyes. Her heart hammered against her ribs as she she gazed wide-eyed at the scene, horrified but unable to turn away.

She didn't even blink at the blinding flash of light when the Armageddon exploded, taking the Imperial star destroyer down with her.

The Armageddon was now miniscule bits of debris, and all the memories and and commodities and close friends who had not made it were forever lost therein.

Tredd was facing away from the explosion when it happened. He wasn't sure how many times his distress signal had repeated. Once? Twice? Sixty times? A hundred times? His usually keen sense of time was distorted. There were Rebel ships in view that could come rescue them right now, but had orders to follow and couldn't be bothered with a petty distress signal. The reasoning associated according to strict principles of validity that he lived by and one day would die by indicated that if you had one command or obligation, you should not endanger yourself or your crew and were obligated to follow orders. Yet, his responsibility was the safety of the crew. Strict principles of validity indicated that meant sending out a distress signal in hopes someone might answer it. Something he had hoped to never learn but did anyway during his coming-of-age journey was that the strict principles of validity his people lived and died by sometimes contradicted each other. Although like he, like Galvez, was forty years of age, he was still but an adolescent. He had often contemplated never returning to his people's simple, logical, self-preservation focused, pacifistic way of life, as farmers and craftsmen and artisans. There were so many things to learn about in the outside world, but he knew that his people would be left wondering what happened to him, now if they wondered if he had died, they would be right. He thought about all the times they had received distress signals and Galvez answered without hesitating and he had objected to all but one, and that one Galvez deferred to another ship in the flotilla and that turned out to be a trap. He thought of all the captains and quartermasters and crew members, military and civilian alike, who promised to aid Galvez if he or his crew were in dire straits. Yet here he was, he and his crew alone, vulnerable, in dire need of help, with nothing but false promises and broken oaths for comfort.

Just then, the Ghost made the jump out of hyperspace.

Tredd's spiral pupils opened wide. "She kept her word."

The Ghost immediately airlocked to the first escape pod and casualties came pouring out. By the time every last passenger had boarded the Ghost and Tredd had taken role, there was scarcely room for another soul.

"And this is just the first escape pod. I'll have to find a way to fit everyone else on." Said Hera. "Commander Tredd, how many people does-I mean did the Armageddon hold?"

"The Armageddon held a capacity of twenty-five hundred souls, and there were sixteen hundred souls on board at the time of impact." Said Tredd.

Hera gasped. "I knew the Armageddon was bigger than the Ghost, but when I promised Galvez I would come rescue him, I hadn't taken into account that the Armageddon could've held a hundred Ghosts! Said Hera.

"Promises are easily made but difficultly kept." Said Tredd.

"If had known I would need to rescue all of you...I don't know if I would have promised Galvez to do the same for him as he had done for me, or at least planned better." Said Hera.

Just then, a Mon Cala cruiser pulled into view. Tredd received an incoming transmission on the transmitter he forgot he had been holding the whole time.

"Your distress signal has been acknowledged. We are currently engaging our tractor beam and depressurizing our docking bay in preparation to receive survivors from escape pods two and three." Said a voice in a Mon Cala accent. 

"They didn't even know us." Said Tredd.

"They didn't need to." Said Hera.

Just then, four more ships made the jump out of hyperspace.

"Those are all ships we have come to the aid of over the years." Said Tredd. "Those are all ships I opposed coming to the aid of." Said Tredd.

Suddenly the airwaves were flooded with messages that their distress signal had been acknowledged as ships came from near and far to rescue survivors amid heavy starfighter fire.

"How many escape pods are there?" Said Hera.

"Thirteen." Said Tredd.

Hera and Tredd gave each other a side glance.

"It could take awhile." Said Tredd.

"I'm not going anywhere until every Armageddon survivor is accounted for." Said Hera.

Tredd turned towards the survivors of escape pod one.

"Liutenant Commander Aguirre." Said Tredd.

Aguirre stood to attention. "Yes, sir." She said.

"Keep in communication with all survivors at all times and relay all messages to me until I issue further orders." Said Tredd as he handed her the transmitter.

"Affirmative." Said Aguirre as she took the transmitter.

Once all the survivors had been rescued and accounted for, Tredd gazed out the window of the wreck site one last time to double check that all the survivors had been rescued.

"We may be going now." Tredd said to Hera. Tredd turned to the survivors as Hera returned to the bridge.

"Attention Armageddon crew members. This is your first officer speaking. I am at a loss of clues as for how Galvez would implement utility of this situation, whereupon-"

Tuur'ika raised her hand to speak, but no words came out of her mouth.

"I am afraid I am unable to comprehend what you are locuting, Doctor." Said Tredd.

Hartsfield turned and read her lips. "What she is saying is, 'if you are in command now, you must speak in plain Basic so everyone can understand." Said Hartsfield.

Tredd gave out an exasperated sigh. "All right then." Tredd shook his head. "I have no idea what Galvez would do in a situation like this, so I will not be doing what Galvez would do in a situation like this. I'll be doing what I would do in a situation like this. Dr. Ochsner, Lister, M0g, prepare an area where you can tend the wound. Hartsfield, see if the engines need attention. Gage, be at the ready to assist in manning the cannons. I know all of you have your own sets of skills. Make yourself busy. That is an order." Said Tredd.

Hera returned to the bridge. She was just entering the coordinates to her previous position when she then got a transmission of her own.

"General Syndulla! Just where did you think you were going?" Said Lando Calrissian.

"I did the right thing. I can explain. I'm sure you'll understand." Said Hera.

"Return to your position now, understand later!" Said Lando.

"I had a debt to pay and a promise to keep, and now that debt has been paid and that promise has been kept in full." Said Hera as she made the jump to lightspeed.

 _Once this is over, I finally get to tell Galvez we're even._ Thought Hera as she excelerated through hyperspace.


	6. Hour of Need

Hera was sitting on the bridge of the Ghost, situated among Endor's trees, when Tredd entered with Hartsfield and Tuur'ika in tow.

 _Something is wrong with this picture._ Hera thought.

"General Syndulla, I have many I am required to thank, but I have selected you to be the first to whom I will bid my sincerest gratitude. Not simply for inconveniencing yourself to come to our aid, but for keeping your word." Said Tredd.

"What reason would I have not to? It's always the right thing to answer a distress signal, and I said that if I ever heard a distress signal from the Armageddon, I would be the first one on the scene, and there I was!" Said Hera.

"You strung out no false promises. Many do." Said Tredd.

"Well, both previous times the Armageddon has rescued Ghost crew members, I said to Galvez that I would have done the same for him, and he trusted I would do the same for him, and now that I've gotten to do the same for him as he's done for me, I get to tell him we're even!" Said Hera.

"I regret to inform you that what you intended to say to him you just said to me." Said Tredd.

"You mean-"

"I remained next to Galvez on the bridge long after he had issued the order to abandon ship. When he asked me why I remained, I said I could never leave him, not at a time such as that. He relieved me, told me to take his seat in the escape pod. Before I left, he bequeathed me his most prized possession." Tredd took the obsidian pendant out from under his shirt, undid the clasp, and presented it to Hera by the chain. "I understand this would be of value to someone you hold dear?"

"No. You keep it as a memento of your captain." Said Hera.

Tredd put the pendant back on.

"I should have known I was in denial about actually being able to personally thank Galvez, but I'm not a bit surprised he went down with the Armageddon. Both times I met him he was so brave and selfless, I could see him staying behind to carry out one last demand." Said Hera.

"Once again, I am offering my sincerest thanks for coming to our aid. I say, in the stead of my captain, I thank you for coming to our aid, as we have for you, and as I knew you would have done the same for us, as you have now done for us." Said Tredd.

"Ships rescue other ships." Said Hera.

"Even when met with initial opposition." Said Jacen.

"Where I come from, children are seen and not heard." Said Tredd.

"That means he likes you." Said Hartsfield.

Jacen wrapped his arms around Hera's waist.

"I knew the day would come I would need to pay my debt of gratitude. It's just...unfortunate the Armageddon had so many casualties. I'm sorry there weren't more survivors for me to rescue." Said Hera.

"Of the sixteen hundred souls on board, only seven hundred and one survived." Said Tredd.

"Should've been seven hundred even!" Said Tuur'ika, who then turned and left, long black slipknot ponytail swishing behind her.

"Where does she think she's going?" said Hartsfield.

"She is going to tend to the wounded, even though she is among the wounded herself." Said Tredd.

\--

Hera and Tredd sat on the roof of the Ghost.

"I bid thanks to all who came to my aid." Said Tredd.

"Yet you come back to me." Said Hera.

"I learned more wisdom in a single day to bring home to my people, yet I have a premonition I should be shunned no less." Said Tredd.

"What do you mean?" Said Hera.

"Although like Galvez, I am of forty years of age, I am still but an adolescent, and I am on my coming of age pilgrimage." Said Tredd.

"I would have never guessed." Said Hera.

"My people adhere to a strict way of life. Our life is that of farmers and craftsmen and artisans. We live and die by reasoning associated or assessed according to strict principles of validity, self preservation, and austerity. However, before we come of age, we may go out on a journey to experience the outside world. Upon our return, we must present something we have acquired to our order's elders. It may be tangible or intangible. If it meets the standards set by the elders, we may be initiated by submersion into one of the sacred springs of my home planet, and be considered a full-fledged member of society, or, if what we bring back falls short of our standards, we are shunned even by closest family members, forever neither child nor adult. We are given the choice to stay in the outside world, lose the only way of life we knew, and leave our people wondering if we never came back because we preferred the outside world or if we had died along the way. I feel significantly older after today, and yet I am unsure now as to if I should return." Said Tredd.

"And you think I'm the one to come to for advice." Said Hera.

"What I learned today far exceeds all I could know about the universe and yet it very much contradicts the only way I know and the only way my people know. During my tenure as first officer of the Armageddon, it lead me to places I thought I would never see and do things I thought I would never do. Things directly contrary to our way of life, and yet what I learned from my way of life leant itself well to the post of first officer, even if my method of command was a far cry from that of Galvez. Galvez was altruistic. I admired that quality even if I didn't understand it. I value strict principles of validity and self preservation above all else. I value selfishness above all else." Said Tredd.

"For someone who prides themselves in their selfishness, you certainly aren't very good at it." Said Hera. "You stay with Galvez even after he orders everyone to abandon ship, you're the first to send out a distress signal, the first thing you do when you thank me is offer me his pendant, if I didn't know any better I would think you didn't have a selfish bone in your body." She reached over and touched Galvez's pendant. When the sharp black points met her fingers, she felt a rush of understanding of the entire universe, fleeting but vivid.

"You could bring back Galvez's pendant." Said Hera.

"In my culture, we do not wear adornments. It is considered vanity. Prior to this I had never worn adornments, watches and lanyards nonewithstanding." Said Tredd.

"That's no adornment. Anyone wearing that has a great amount of power." Said Hera.

"What is strangest to me is wearing the innards of two vastly different planets around my neck. The chain had been an engagement gift from Galvez's beloved, Nyx Starchaser, gone too soon, from a planet of perpetual summer, the other a token of respect from the steward of a dark, eldritch planet." Said Tredd.

"Anyone who respects you that much to give you something that enables you to understand so much must've held you in very high esteem. I say you bring it back. You seem wiser already." Said Hera.

"That is because I endured and used astute reasoning to handle a situation that not even the three months I spent in command after Galvez had his brain tumor removed could have prepared me for." Said Tredd.

"No, seriously. You do seem wiser already." Said Hera.

"If I'm so wise now, why am I unable to make up my mind?" Said Tredd. He swung his feet against the hull of the Ghost.

"Whatever decision you make will be the right one." Said Hera.

"Hera, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Said Tredd.

"I'm going to go check on the field hospital." Said Hera.

"Can't believe the Armageddon went down." Said Tycho as he sat down next to Sabine, Wedge, and Hobbie. "I made many landings on their flight deck. Good people there. Every last one of 'em."

"Remember when they rescued us?" Said Sabine.

"More like how could I forget, even though I would like to." Said Wedge.

"Yeah. You had a big geeky crush on Dr. Ochsner." Said Sabine.

"She was smoking hot the day she rescued us. I caught a glimpse of her over by the field hospital and she didn't just get hit with the ugly stick, she fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down." Said Wedge.

"She's a lot better looking than Barton. I heard she got her brain smashed between a light fixture and a bulkhead." Said Hobbie.

"I'm gonna lose my lunch." Said Tycho.

"The day she removed my spleen I thought I was going to die, and she told me 'we're all going to die, we just don't know when.' I wonder if when she said that if she knew it was a fate's warning." Said Hobbie.

"She probably did, for all we know. That was the unofficial motto of the Armageddon's sickbay. Not that I spent a lot of time there but still." Said Tycho.

"I never would have guessed. I'm still here, the jar containing my organic spleen is still here, the synthetic spleen she put in there is still here, and she's gone." Said Hobbie.

"Don't you fly with that thing?" Said Tycho. "Most people would think there was something wrong with you for flying everywhere with a ruptured organ in a jar of formaldehyde."

"It's easier than flying with a severed hand or foot." Said Hobbie. "And the glass jar it's in has been heroic. It's survived lots of dog fights and crashes and ejections. I might not think about it consciously all the time, but I always come back with my spleen or on it. It's a reminder that Barton risked her life for me so I could do this."

In the field hospital, Tuur'ika and Lister were rolling bandages.

"It's kind of hard to roll bandages when I have a broken finger." Said Lister.

"Listen, Pat. I like to think of myself as having infinite patience, and right now, you are testing the limits of infinity." Said Tuur'ika.

"Don't make me laugh so hard. I'll split the sutures in my knee." Said Lister.

"I'll never forget the day Galvez told me I needed to appreciate the surgeon's mate I've got rather than the one I think I outght to have, so I am trying REALLY hard to appreciate you, even though I think Barton is the surgeon's mate I think I ought to have." Said Tuur'ika.

"If I didn't know any better I would swear that everything you learned over the past few years went down with the Armageddon. Without Galvez and Barton breathing down your neck, you're reverting to your old ways." Said Lister.

Hera was saddened by the scene she was watching at a distance.

She sat on a log bench and gazed halfheartedly at the firelight and the scenes of dancing, singing, and drunken laughter.

Jan Dodonna came with two mugs of ale, sat down beside Hera, and handed one of them to her.

"To victory." Said Jan.

"To victory." Hera said in a hollow voice. They clanked their mugs of ale together and drank. Hera let the metallic tang melt on the inside of her mouth.

"Why the long face?" Said Jan.

"Not everyone is celebrating tonight." Said Hera as she looked over her shoulder and watched Lister and Tuur'ika trudging up a hill.

\--

Tuur'ika took her helmet down off a shelf in the Ghost, selected her surgical instrument case, and headed to the common area.

"Are you all right?" Said Gage.

Tuur'ika did not respond.

"Are you all right? Said Gage.

"I'm fine." Grumbled Tuur'ika.

"You don't sound fine." Said Gage.

Tuur'ika ran down the hall to the common room.

"WHY COULDN'T IT HAVE BEEN ME AND NOT HER?" She yelled.

Tuur'ika sat down at the table, unzipped her instrument case, selected an orbitoclast, a hammer, and a compact mirror. She laid them out on the table.

"What in the universe do you intend to do to yourself?" Said Gage.

"I'm going to give myself a lobotomy." Said Tuur'ika.

Gage yanked Tuur'ika's instruments off the table in one fell swoop and hid them behind his back.

"What?" Gasped Hera as she entered the common room.

"I said, I am going to give myself a lobotomy." Said Tuur'ika.

"Why?" Said Gage.

"I can't take this anymore. I should have known that the sinking of the Armageddon would be the start of a great tribulation." Said Tuur'ika.

"How so?" Said Gage.

"So many dead, so many wounded. Why couldn't it have been my mangled brain dashed on the bulkhead and floor? Why couldn't it have been me and not Barton?" She said.

"What happened to Barton?" Said Rex as he rushed into the common area.

"When we made impact, Barton got her skull crushed between a light fixture and a bulkhead." Said Tuur'ika.

Rex gasped.

"Her head smashed open and she fell facedown as chunks of brain and blood and bone stuck to the bulkhead and spilled on the floor." Said Tuur'ika.

"It never gets any easier, losing a brother. Or a sister." Said Rex.

"That's a lot for you to say." Said Tuur'ika.

"I hardly knew her." Said Rex. He sat down and hung his head.

"That was what I had to think of as I had to abandon my patients as I scrambled through the darkened halls amid the chaos to the escape pods. I saw many people dying, but that stands out to me the most because Barton was like a sister to me." Said Tuur'ika.

"She was like a sister to me too and I only knew her for a few hours." Said Rex.

"The weird thing is, Barton was not always like a sister. At first I hated her. Thought she was weak. Wishy-washy. Soft. Feeble-minded. I always enjoyed the look on her face she'd have when I had just put her down. I awaited the day she broke. But then she started standing up to me. I don't know who put it in her mind, but I felt threatened at first. Exposing me for who I really was. She started taking risks, and became bold and feisty. Forcing me to admit I'm wrong. She forced me to admit how horrible I was with just one beskar-piercing question. It was then that I started to respect her. At first I was only pretending to respect her, but before long, I wasn't pretending, and I saw how strong and clever she really was. Right up until the bitter end." Said Tuur'ika.

"I put that idea in her head." Said Rex.

"I never would have guessed." Said Tuur'ika. She swallowed hard. "It's always brains. I like brains. Just not when they're splattered. Then Barton getting her skull crushed reminded me of my father's execution. He to was a doctor, and the Empire wanted him on their side. When the experimentation program they wanted him to participate in went against his conscience, he refused. He was executed. His helmet was wrought into a neckband, and my brother and sister and I were forced to watch from a bench on the scaffold. His final words were "I am not a traitor any more than you are loyal to the Mandalorian way, and if you take my life, my eldest will make you laugh out of the wrong sides of your faces." He then knelt and the executioner gave him a skull full of blaster shots. My brother and sister and I were forced to clean up his gore. I have yet to carry out his dying words. He was the first of many doctors who refused to join the Empire's sentient being experimentation program who were executed on that scaffold. They even had the audacity to name it Ochsner's Ledge." Said Tuur'ika.

"So that was the picture you kept in your office. I knew it!" Said Gage.

"Today I lost my two best friends. Galvez and Barton were a better brother and sister than Siegfried and Maarta ever were. And then, as if the Armageddon going down and losing my adopted home and two best friends wasn't bad enough, I just found out that Mandalore has fallen." Tuur'ika added.

"Oh my goodness!" Does Sabine know about this?" Said Hera.

"She had already known for awhile. Some coward who calls himself Moff Gideon slew our Mand'alor and then made off with the Darksaber. Granted, Bo-Katan was no saint. Hardly a saint, but many people forget that. Still, she was a leader and well on her way to reuniting Mandalore. I wouldn't wish what happened to her on my worst enemy. I can't say I had a great deal of fondness for Bo-Katan, but it was under her that I had hope having a home in Mandalore. The Armageddon has gone down, the Empire raped the land I used to sleep in, I now understand that what I have done. I did things to patients without their consent. I know that to overcompensate for not being able to save my father, I subjected patients to fates worse than death. It has all come back to me. I wish I had died on the Armageddon, but I got the fate that I earned." Said Tuur'ika. She wrung her hands.

"I can't live up to my name, my duties, my calling, anything." She said. "In Mandalorian, Tuur'ika means 'hour', short for _tuur'ika be linibar_ -hour of need. Why can't I be there for anyone in their hour of need?" Said Tuur'ika.

"I beg to differ!" Interjected Gage.

Tuur'ika turned her head to him.

"Remember the day I got the particle beam through my skull? We may never know how I survived it, but now I know why I survived it." Said Gage. "I survived the particle beam so I could survive the Armageddon. Had I not gotten that particle beam through my skull, I would have never switched from artillery to engineering. The people in artillery never would have had enough time to get from the gun turrets to the escape pods. Oppenheimer, Rodman, Howitzer, the rest-all gone." Said Gage.

Tuur'ika was obstinate.

"But me, I'm still here and I'm still here because of you! Because of you and your not giving up on me, even after Galvez told you to get me fitted for a body bag. Guess what? Galvez is gone, the Armageddon is gone, but me, I'm still here. Anyone else would have bandaged me up and hoped for the best, but I would not have been functional. What would I have done, gone home to have my mother take care of me while the galaxy burned? No. that I am not only alive and kicking but participating in making the galaxy a better place." Said Gage.

Tredd had been behind some boxes the whole time. He stood up and sat adjacent to Tuur'ika.

"Tell me about the time Galvez and I survived execution by firing squad." Said Tredd.

"They lined you up and told you to raise your hands in surrender." Said Tuur'ika.

"What were our last words going to be?" Said Tredd.

"Galvez said 'get on with it. I could have killed you all in the time it took to argue about this' and you said 'take a step closer, it will make your job easier.' And the stormtroopers did." Said Tuur'ika.

"Then what?" Said Tredd.

"The stormtroopers opened fire on you, and every shot they fired missed. They fired round after round and every one of them missed. Then they were ordered to stop. I remembered a secret way out of the facility from the days I worked there, and I created a distraction and got you out." Said Tuur'ika. She signed. "Wait, did you just try to console me? I thought you scorned consolation."

"I do. It goes against all rules of self-preservation and reasoning associated or assessed according to strict principles of validity, but time and again, Galvez would say to me: 'screw your strict principles of validity, I'm doing what's right.' I will be saying that a lot to myself at late." Said Tredd.

"You and your medics got me out from under that beam and plucked out all the shrapnel. I'll never forget it." Said Zeb as he passed by.

"Let's not forget how you put my arm back together after I got it mangled in the gravitational wave generator. You really do put the arm in Armageddon." Said Hartsfield.

"For once, I do not feel inclined to argue." Said Tuur'ika.

Just then, an X-wing pilot with her blonde hair in pigtail buns on top of her head entered the common area.

"Rayleigh?" Said said Hardsfield.

"Absalom!" She ran to Hartsfield and they hugged. "I was so worried about you!"

"I was worried about you too." Said Hartsfield.

"I was more worried about you." Said Rayleigh.

"I knew General Syndulla would keep her word, but I never thought there would be a day that I would disembark from the Armageddon and board the Ghost, only to never board the Armageddon again." Said Hartsfield.

"I heard there were a lot of crew members who weren't able to make it to the escape pods." Said Rayleigh.

"More than half. At least none of our pilots were on board. Especially not our best one." Said Hartsfield. "Not that I'm biased or anything."

"Did anyone else survive?" Said Rayleigh.

"Take a look." Said Hartsfield.

"Let's see, there's Gage, and Tredd, and...Dr. Ochsner! Can I call you Baldrick?" Said Rayleigh.

"Now is a really bad time for this, Schmidt." Grumbled Tuur'ika.

"Is this another inside joke?" Said Hera.

"It's awhile ago now, but when my X-wing was shot down, my X-wing was totaled, my helmet was totaled, and my skull would have been totaled-"

"For the record, Rayleigh, your skull was not totaled. Totaled means broken beyond repair. When Barton got her skull crushed between a light fixture and a bulkhead, THAT was totaled." Said Tuur'ika.

Rayleigh's eyes widened. "I'm so sorry to hear that! She was so nice."

"Understatement." Said Tuur'ika.

"Well, my skull had been fractured, and Dr. Ochsner was tasked with putting it back together, and I needed to be awake during surgery. I was falling asleep, and Dr. Ochsner said 'speak to me! Ask me anything!' And I said 'can I call you Baldrick? And she almost laughed so hard she almost stuck her tweezers right into my posterior cingulate cortex." Said Rayleigh.

"No. You cannot call me Baldrick." Said Tuur'ika.

"But I have it written on my helmet!" Rayleigh put her helmet on the table. "Look, right here." She pointed to the illegible scrawl on the side of her helmet. "It says 'can I call you Baldrick?'"

"So that's what it says. I can't believe I never noticed that in the past. Your writing is even less legible than mine." Said Tuur'ika.

"So that way, at any given time, you can consider yourself asked to be called Baldrick." Said Rayleigh.

"Why is this so important to you?" Said Tuur'ika.

"Because you saved my life." Rayleigh then pointed to the jagged line of stitches drawn across the back of her helmet on the diagonal. "That's my scar." Said Rayleigh.

"Your scar?" Said Tuur'ika.

Rayleigh turned her head and indicated to the jagged scar on the back of her head. "I always wear my hair in pigtails so I can show off my scar."

"I can't believe I never figured out why you would wear your hair like that, and I can't believe I never figured out that the line of stitches on the back of your helmet was your scar." Said Tuur'ika.

"For a neurosurgeon, I'm fairly certain that if an Ewok came in here right now, armed with a spoon, and cracked your head open, they would starve." Said Rayleigh.

Tuur'ika's vision blurred with tears and her lips curled back into a grin.

"Hey, don't you see the sign that says 'no laughing while crying allowed?'" Said Rayleigh.

"This is no time for jokes. Not when I've shirked my responsibilites." Said Tuur'ika.

"You saved my life and enabled me to keep doing what I love best. Surviving that accident was meant everything to me, and I survived it thanks to you. " Said Rayleigh.

"I meant all of you. I don't deserve to be treated like this after all the horrible things I've done. I need to suffer." Said Tuur'ika. Tears streamed down Tuur'ika's face.

"There are many here who beg to differ." Said Hera.

"I don't understand you serve me so well." Said Tuur'ika. 

Just then, Jacen came in and climbed up next to Tuur'ika and began wiping her eyes with a tissue.

"You complain that you're not there for anyone in their hour of need, but the first time we met, you rescued Kanan and Rex and Zeb. Had you not been there for us in our hour of need, my son would not be wiping your tears." Said Hera.

Tuur'ika then turned to get a good look at the small green-haired child who was wiping away tears from her cheeks and immediately saw the resemblance to Kanan. Tuur'ika felt a knot in the pit of her stomach. Questionable ethics of the past were coming back to haunt her.

"This is how I atone. I got the fate that I earned." Said Tuur'ika.

"You exceed in being there for others in their hour of need. It's ok to let others be there for you in your hour of need." Said Hera.

"If only Galvez were here to hear you say that." Said Tredd.

"Dr. Ochsner is here. She heard me say that." Said Hera.

Tuur'ika then leaned forward and sobbed into the table, allowing others to be there for her in her hour of need.

**Author's Note:**

> Commenters get a kiss!


End file.
